 Texas greenhorn Joe Buck (John Voight) arrives in New York for the first time. Preening himself as a real  hustler , he finds that he is the one getting  hustled  until he teams up with a down-and-out but resilient outcast named Ratso Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman). The initial  country cousin meets city cousin  relationship deepens. In their efforts to bilk a hostile world rebuffing them at every turn, this unlikely pair progress from partners in shady business to comrades. Each has found his first real friend.