for food in the harsh countryside, he injures his paw and becomes trapped in coiled wire. A young boy named Jeff Neeley, pulling a stuffed toy dog on a string, rescues Rusty, taking him to be the personification of his imaginary dog friend "Gladly" and leads him to the campsite where his older brother Bill and unemployed sharecropper father Virgil, sitting alongside a small dilapidated truck, are cooking food from their meager supply. The Neeleys determine that because Rusty, who has no license, is limping, with one paw held in the air, they will allow him to travel with them at least until he recovers. Rusty returns with a new family As Danny and the four boys walk through town, they run into Miss Simmons, who runs the local employment agency and offers to add 5 dollars as her share of the reward offered for finding Rusty, just as Virgil approaches to ask her about job availability for a day laborer. Moments later, Danny and the boys spot Bill and Jeff who are sitting at the curb, next to the truck, examining Rusty's paw. During the confrontation, Jeff calls Rusty "my dog" and Danny retorts, "in a pig's eye… stealing doesn't make him yours". The next moment a motorcycle policeman arrives and takes the Neeleys, including Virgil, who has just returned from his job search, into the city's holding pen to confirm Virgil's lost registration paper for his truck. While his father and older brother are in brief detention, young Jeff is brought home for dinner by attending attorney Mitchell and, as the little boy tearfully reunites with his beloved "Gladly", Danny becomes jealous of the affection between Rusty and Jeff as well as the attention his own parents are lavishing on the boy, especially upon hearing the lullaby his mother was singing while putting Jeff to bed. The next morning, Virgil arrives to pick up Jeff and start off on a new job search. Attorney Mitchell invites him for breakfast and presents the family an opportunity to farm a piece of property the Mitchells own nearby, while also offering to let Jeff continue to live in the house and start school. Carrie Simmons also arrives to tell Virgil that she found another job for him. Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Danny tells his mother that he has decided to attend the military academy, after all. Later, as Bill is helping