In 1857, Will Drake's life is shattered. The young seaman from the Henty (first settlers of Victoria, established at Portland in south-western Victoria) steamship Champion tries in vain to save his sister from drowning after a collision off Cape Otway.
Forced to flee the sea he loves because of community acrimony against those involved in the shipwreck, Will accompanies a bullock-driver to Warrock sheep station to work as a carpenter. There he befriends a Chinese gardener, Ah Chee Chung, and falls in love with the family's maid, Isobel.
In order to separate him from Isobel, Will is asked to accompany Ah Chee to the Ararat goldfields where Ah Chee is to join relations. At the goldfields Will helps protect the Chinese man from discrimination and violence by the European authorities and goldminers, but eventually they learn that Ah Chee's relations have moved on to Ballarat, so they follow.
Unable to find his family in Ballarat, Ah Chee falls into gambling and opium smoking and Will is caught up in an armed robbery at a Chinese gambling house. The Chinese blame Will for bringing violence upon them, so he decides to return to Portland, where he joins the training crew of the new Portland lifeboat.
When the Admella is driven onto Carpenter Rocks (a true historical event), Will and the rest of the lifeboat crew risks their lives for several days saving the passengers from the wreck.
