Returning to the post-industrial north-east of England of his upbringing, young gypsy John-John Wisdom wants to escape his past. His new job as an ice cream man should offer freedom, but the legacy of brutality left by his father, the champion bare-knuckle boxer Mac Wisdom, overshadows his life and instead pulls him into the dark recesses of a town where is family name is mud.John-John seeks solace in nature and must find an inner strength in order to escape poverty, prejudice and his violent heritage. Taking a dual narrative in which past and present intertwine towards a dramatic conclusion, Pig Iron is an unflinching and poetic portrait of contemporary Traveller culture.Set in fairgrounds, woodlands, camp sites, car parks, quarries and housing estates, it is also a homage to the beauty and diversity of the modern English landscape.