Ronald Adams is a young man embarking on a cross-country drive from New York to California. Soon after leaving his mother's home in Brooklyn, he sees a hitch-hiker standing in the rain on the Brooklyn Bridge apparently trying to get a lift. The man steps onto the roadway and Adams has to swerve to avoid him, but the incident slips his mind until about an hour later, when Adams is startled to see the same man standing along the Pulaski Skyway. He sees the same hitch-hiker several more times over the ensuing days, and though the man looks ordinary and non-threatening, Adams cannot understand how he keeps getting ahead along his route and is increasingly alarmed by his repeated appearances.
