Two families immigrate to America’s Steel Valley and open a trucking motel and laundry. The businesses change hands through three generations as the region’s industry booms and busts. When the two disparate families become one, the new generation must examine what it means to endure in a place, a culture, a language, and a history. Line Study of a Motel Clerk examines a family’s century-long effort to make a home in a world on the move.

Two families immigrate to America’s Steel Valley and open a trucking motel and laundry. The businesses change hands through three generations as the region’s industry booms and busts. When the two disparate families become one, the new generation must examine what it means to endure in a place, a culture, a language, and a history. Line Study of a Motel Clerk examines a family’s century-long effort to make a home in a world on the move.