The letters which comprise the bulk of the book are the correspondence of the four chiefs and members of their family, at home (near Oban) and abroad, over a period of 150 years, a period significant in marking a major change in the Highland way of life. The letters provide an authentic record of the concerns and vicissitudes of the family and of the impact of local, national and international events upon it. Written in the intimacy of the family circle, they give an insight into the attitudes and beliefs prevailing at the time. The story tells of the Jacobite Iain Ciar, 22nd Chief of the MacDougalls (who was exiled for his part in the 1715 rising) and his successors, Alexander, Patrick and John. Some of the tantalizing gaps in the narratives have been filled in by stories passed down generation by generation in the family; others from folklore as Iain Ciar is still a legendary figure in the district. He and his great-grandson John carried on the warlike tradition of their forebears, leading adventurous lives and travelling far from their native land, though for very different reasons. The ancestral lands having just been restored to him, Alexander stayed at home during the 1745 rising, though his brother was out with Prince Charles Edward - the letters reveal the delicacy of the situation. He was the last chief to live in Dunollie Castle, the ancestral home of the MacDougalls until they built the house below. Patrick spent much of his life in Edinburgh as a lawyer before returning to succeed his father. John served in the navy and became an Admiral. The book is not only about the heads of the family and their sons, but also about their wives and daughters who feature prominently in the correspondence, giving an insight into domestic arrangements and social conditions of the time.