When McBride, a young Irishman, leaves County Monaghan for the building sites of London, and the Germany, he is confronted by a harsh new world and the volatile men who have mastered and mythologised it. Quickly overwhelmed by the unrelenting quest for work and love, he soon finds himself enslaved to the road ahead, embittered by the cold comforts of its hard shoulder. But when he eventually returns to London, the limits of the heavy digger's life, its quixotic pursuit of the Big Money, its illusory horizons, are brought shockingly and suddenly home. This novel is the story of countless unheard voices, transfiguring the haunting experiences of Ireland's unconsidered exiles into a tale of intense colour and vibrancy.