A miner leaves his cottage in the morning, his family waving goodbye. The pit head; locking the lamps. The miners enter a lift and descend to the pits. At the coalface, miners hack at the coal with pickaxes, while other men and boys load the coal into trolleys. The coal is hoisted to the pit's mouth, where men, women and boys commence unloading. The waste is hoisted to the pit's mouth; a group of women load wooden props and sort, screen and load the coal into trucks. The coal trains leave the pit. The miners return to the pit head, and receive their pay. The miner returns home after work. A middle-class family sit around an open fire upon which a maid places more coal.