A child living on a farm in County Kerry describes everyday life, market day, a horse fair in Dingle, and the biggest horse show in Ireland, the Royal Dublin Show.
When Mrs. Buzzard wants to get rid of the big, ugly dog that creates a lot of trouble, Farmer Buzzard decides on a plan to save this lovable monster from banishment.
The author describes how, at the age of eleven, he rescued his stepfather after an accident with farm machinery and how he helped to keep the farm running until his stepfather recovered nearly a year later.
When a kind and hardworking duck nearly collapses from overwork, while taking care of a farm because the owner is too lazy to do so, the rest of the animals get together and chase the farmer out of town.
In 1881, when their apple tree is felled by a storm just before Christmas, a young farm girl and her family discover that the tree was important to each of them for different reasons.
