Seeds of Man is based on Woody Guthrie's adventurous 1931 trip through Texas. Nineteen-year-old Woody, accompanied by family members, drives from Pampa in the Panhandle to the rugged Big Bend country in a wheezing Model-T Ford truck. They are searching for a silver mine that Uncle Jeff had discovered and then lost. This autobiographical novel, originally published in 1976 - nearly ten years after Woody Guthrie's death - shows how his father's search for riches was a dead-end street.

The characters dare and do, drink Papa's high-proof whiskey, eat out of cans, meet real characters, make love, and sing the lively songs composed by Woody along the way.