This fully indexed book with End Notes and a Bibliography, maps, charts and photos is in two sections.

The first section briefly traces Tolmie history from the MacLeods of Lewis and later the MacLeods of Gairloch who were banished to Skye in the 1500s and their resulting name change to Tolmie. The history covers the generations of Tolmies in Skye with their close association with the Chiefs of Dunvegan Castle in their role as factors of the MacLeod Estates. The family are followed through some of the major historical Scottish events, the Jacobite Risings, Culloden, the Land Clearances and the 1846 Potato Famine.

The second and major section deals with the emigration of four brothers to Australia and later New Zealand. This section is New Zealand colonial history set in Dunedin and Otago from 1864-1899. Two of the brothers Donald Allan and William Alexander Tolmie were early run holders and large landowners in Otago. After 1899 the family dispersed to other parts of the North Island, Taranaki, Te Kuiti, Wairoa, Napier and Hawkes Bay.

The book also had two Appendices, one with excerpts from old family documents and letters and the second has genealogy charts. This book is suitable for the Family Historian; the Family History Section, or the NZ Colonial History Section of a Library.

Surames also include; Cameron, Campbell, Dalgety, Haggitt, Jopp, MacAskill, MacArthur, MacDiarmid, MacDonald, MacKinnon, MacKenzie, MacLean, MacLeod, Ramsay, Rattray, Tolme, Tolmie.

Place names also include; Anderson's Bay, Australia, Bendigo, Bracadale, Brisbane, Clinton, Coll, Contin, Dunvegan, Dunedin, Edinburgh, Eigg, Fortrose, France, Gairloch, Geelong, Harris, Hawera, Hawkesbay, Iceland, Ireland, Inverness, Iona, Islay, Isle of Man, Kintail, Lewis, Melbourne, Meremere, New Plymouth, New York, Norway, Oamaru, Otago, Port Chalmers, Queensland, South Otago, Skye, Stornoway, Strontian, Taihape, Talisker, Tasmania, Te Kuiti, Uiginish, Waipahi, Wairuna, Wairewa