The story is set in 1960. Sizwe is a migrant worker. Striking illustrations and blocks of text with speech bubbles take the reader into the life of a gold miner who is showing a new miner how to do his job. The miners live in a hostel in very challenging conditions - they are overcrowded, there are communal showers and the food is awful. The miners travel to the mines each day. A big lift takes them down three-and-a-half kilometres into the earth, where it is hot and uncomfortable. The work involves blasting holes with explosives, clearing rocks away and shovelling rubble into carts. Miners do not see their families often and they are harassed by the police for their 'bed number', which gives them permission to be in the city.