Out of It concerns a game of cricket played between New Zealand and an 'Out of It' Eleven which includes several of the main character, PSM's heroes and villains from his bohemian past. He is in danger of losing his wife and family, his house and respectable job, because of one lapse back into his past. O'Leary's novel is seen as a cult novel in the annals of New Zealand literature as it explores affectionately through satire and insight the 1960s generation who were forced to face a reality of the 'straight' world that they had rejected, when the mortgage has to be paid and the kids need to be clothed and fed.