This is a true account of what life was really like for the tattie howker. The story tells of hardships endured by potato workers in Scotland in the 1950s and beyond. It refers to customs and beliefs, also how they lived together as one large group for the duration of the harvesting season. They were firmly at the bottom of the social scale, and often referred to sarcastically as "The Tattie Howkers." The story is real in that it tells of the author's experiences working at the potato picking in Scotland during the years of her youth.