This is an account of the rivalry and sometimes bloody conflict between two families from the west coast of Scotland, the Campbells and the McDonalds. Starting with the violent death of the Campbell chief in 1297, the feud then went on for 450 years in Scotland and Northern Ireland with numerous cullings and clashings inflicted by both sides, amongst which the incident at Glencoe just happens to be the best publicized. Despite the mutual antipathy, both families continued to grow, to scatter over the world and to produce a large number of talented descendants including two British Prime Ministers (Campbell Bannerman and Ramsay MacDonald) and the first Canadian Prime Minister. The second half of the book charts this more peaceful period after 1745 when large numbers of both clans spread rapidly around the world: transported as criminals, evicted in clearances, or simply seeking their fortune in peace or war. The story follows the families in the American and Napoleonic wars, to India, the West Indies and Australasia, meeting politicians, poet, terrorists, sportsmen and women, entrepreneurs, world speed record holders and a mistress introduced to Kennedy by Sinatra.