The novel follows the journeys of a group of Australian men and women roaming the countryside looking for work during the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Reviewer "R.K." in The Age, in an overview of the author's novels, stated: "she tells the story of several extraordinary characters who are ordinary enough 'on the tramp.'

She lacks his boisterous, overflowing virility, his power to thrill with the common touch, but she has his appreciation of the ordinary man, his yearning for simplicity and hatred of cant.

"[2] The News of Adelaide named the novel their book of the week with the reviewer finding: "Here is a good Australian story.

Miss Tennant has fine humor, not slapstick variety, but with a subtle freshness and sparkle that few writers possess.