Val d'Or, in northern Québec, typifies Canada's mining towns. Through his train window, Willy Czaikowsky from Poland sees the vastness of the Precambrian Shield suddenly interupted by a busy town. He visits Val d'Or, and in talking with a prospector learns how the "men with the little hammers" search for and sometimes find a vein of gold. A new mining development is outlined in the film, from the first diamond drilling to the mushrooming of a town. Later sequences show the work below ground.