Menachem-Mendl, a cheerful shtetl Jew, to whose adventures Sholom Aleichem dedicated a separate series of short stories and letters, is still poor and looking for any kind of income. This time he got a job as an insurance agent — “fining people from death.” He's not sure he understands what he signed up for, but he's cheerful, vital, and ready for any paid endeavor. You can start practicing right on the train, on the way to your first destination. One problem is that the passengers he comes across are all the same “fines-takers.”