It concerns itself with an 8-year-old boy "Young Art" growing up in the Scottish Highland community of Clachdrum and in episodic form, catalogues a series of adventures and occurrences in his life, often connected with his mentor figure "Old Hector", a local character and bootlegger.

[1] The main climax of the novel is when Art, returning out of curiosity to a cave where he and a girl from the village thought a wild beast lived, uncover an illicit still run by Hector and Red Douglas (a local rascal).

The book is considered to be one of the "finest evocations of childhood ever written, conveying all the magic and misery and the bursting joys of being a small boy in a great and mysterious world.

"[3] Hector's role is one of an idealised Gaelic seanachie, his knowledge of his local area and history not limiting him in his dealing with universal issues such as greed and land rights.

[1] The Times Literary Supplement stated that Young Art and Old Hector is the book that "affirms Neil Gunn's place as one of the most important Scottish writers of the Twentieth century.