In the late 1970s, deep in the heart of Southwestern Ontario's Tobacco Belt, a madcap crew of summer students learns what it means to work on a tobacco farm. Each finds their own way to cope with the physical and mental challenges to get through the season.

Johnny Sandleaves is a Canadian coming-of-age novel showcasing a mix of dark humour and gritty reality while providing a colourful social snapshot of the Old World circumstances shaping the families who moved to this burgeoning corner of Canada. Relatable in its banter and abounding with eccentric characters, Johnny Sandleaves peels back the dramatic layers of how an eclectic crew of tobacco harvesters on Peter DeVreker's farm found themselves where they are - and why, with all of life's possibilities, they ended up working in tobacco.