These modern dispatches from an ancient landscape tell the story of deep-rooted attachment to place, describing a way of life that is little noticed and yet has profoundly shaped history. In evocative and lucid prose, James Rebanks takes us through a shepherd's year, offering a unique account of rural life and a fundamental connection with the land that most of us have lost. It is a story of working lives, the people around him, his childhood, his parents and grandparents, a people who exist and endure even as the world changes around them.