With his typewriter "Old Faithful" in the shop, O. Henry dictates to a secretary a saga that spans twenty years . The plot concerns two life-long friends in New York who become separated when Silk Arnold (James Davis) grows ambitious and decides to go west to seek his fortune. They agree to meet again 20 years later in the same place, assuming both are still alive. After hearing about Billy's often shady adventures over the years, the secretary asks if Silk ever killed anyone. O. Henry responds, "Emily, he broke the law every which way, but he never broke the law of God." What Silk discovers when he returns to New York after 20 years involves one of O. Henry's more ironic twist endings