The book covers the author's early years in Kent, followed by four years in post-war London, and then details the journey by ship in 1951 to Australia and the four years of hardship spent there. It describes the way in which her Mother made a home out of a garage (the only accommodation that the Australians were prepared to offer), the anti-British feelings encountered at school, and the difficulties that her Mother faced trying to find employment. Then the book takes the reader through the journey back to Britain by ship, to the joyous reunion in 1955 with family back in England, when the author was fourteen. The book finally brings the reader up to date with the author and her family, and provides a happy ending to a mesmerizing experience, laced with humour and challenges in equal measure.