Colin Hallstead, his cousins and their wives set out to trek across the Australian bushlands to find the famed rich lands up on a plateau near the mysterious Mt Lindsay, known to the Aboriginal people as the Spirit Mountain.
A ragtag group of people, dispossessed by rich landowners, all they want is a chance to make their own lives and live them out in peace and tranquillity in these mountains rich with timber and lush with greenery.
On the way they meet Gidabul, a member of the Bundjalung clan of Aboriginals, now an outcast for breaking tribal law. He joins up with them and assists the Hallstead group through lands occupied by often antagonistic Aboriginals, who do not believe that white people should be coming to settle on their lands, nor treading through their sacred spaces.
But, will the Hallstead party ever get to the plateau near Spirit Mountain? If they do, how will they get on with their Aboriginal neighbours? Do they have the indomitable will needed to survive in this harsh, unchartered land, all alone with only their wits?