Set in mid-19th century Ayrshire, in the fictitious town of Barbie which is based on his native Ochiltree, it consciously violates the conventions of the sentimental kailyard school, and is sometimes quoted as an influence on the Scottish Renaissance.

The novel describes the struggles of a proud and taciturn carrier, John Gourlay, against the spiteful comments and petty machinations of the envious and idle villagers of Barbie (the "bodies").

[1] The sudden return after fifteen years' absence of the ambitious merchant James Wilson, son of a mole-catcher, leads to commercial competition against which Gourlay has trouble responding.

It was said to be the first "truthful" picture of Scottish life since the death of John Galt, and a welcome antidote to the so-called kailyard school of writing which described rural Scotland sentimentally as a group of peaceful and harmonious communities helping one another through difficult times.

An adaptation of the novel for the stage by Gerard Mulgrew was produced by Communicado at the Lyceum Studio Theatre on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 1989, with Sandy Welch in the role of John Gourlay.