Part One takes us from Dublin through Edgeworthtown, The Shannon, Limerick, Edenvale and Kilrush. We get a contemporary view of landlords, both resident and absentee and how the latter contributed to the neglect and hardship.of the rural Irish peasantry.

Developments on the Shannon are examined, promising improvements for the West of Ireland and the desperate plight of the peasantry. Kohl's interest in the people, ballads and folklore of Ireland, gives us a final glimpse of an aspect of life which had resisted colonial oppression only to be devastated by the great calamity of the Irish Famine which finally destroyed a vibrant peasant culture.