A young lieutenant Abbott Bragg, dismissed from the King's army for an indiscretion with his commanding officer's wife, commits a minor crime leading to his transportation to Van Dieman's Land. Here he meets fellow prisoner, 'French Frank', also enjoying the hospitality of the King, and Nathina, a young Aboriginal woman. Following a creative and daring escape Abbott and French Frank become bushrangers. Posing as innkeepers they indulge in honest highway robbery, all the while cheating the hangman. Meanwhile, Nathina is taken to London as a 'live exhibit' in the name of nineteenth-century science, which included dark tales of preserved Aboriginal heads sent to the British Museum.

This is a rollicking tale of violence, adventure and love in its many forms. It is populated with a rich cast of characters as might be expected in a remote outpost where almost everyone is escaping from something.