The story of mining in South Wales has been one of the people who extracted the black gold from the hillsides and valleys of the area. Their hard work has often been accompanied by danger and countless thousands have lost their lives in the valleys of Wales as a result of man's urge and need to extract coal. From the children squashed by coal trucks as they opened doors underground for ventilation to the huge disasters at Aberfan and Senghenydd, David Owen takes us 'down the mine' and into a tale of human misery, of families destroyed, livelihoods lost, all in the hunt for coal.