The Dharma Bums

The Dharma Bums is about friendship, the search for meaning, and the allure of nature. It’s about two charismatic young men who go on a heroic odyssey across America in search of enlightenment. With them are a cast of Beat legends—Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac himself, and others who exemplify Beat ideals. You’ll meet vagabonds, farmers, mountain climbers, vagrants…but you'll also be introduced to fascinating characters such as Japhy Ryder (a poet who renounced conventional life to become a Zen monk), Ray Smith (an innocent writer looking for his place in the world), and Olema Burns (the enigmatic proprietress of a café in Point Reyes).