Pictures

In pioneer New Zealand, two brothers learn about the realities of their new and different life.

In New Zealand, at the end of the 19th Century, Walter Burton is embittered by warning from authorities that he is not to exhibit photographs he has taken of Maoris taken prisoner by Colonial troops. When his more pragmatic brother, Alfred, joins Watler in New Zealand, Alfred is prepared to comply with official suggestions that he takes pictures of Maoris likely to be more acceptable in London. Differences between the brothers are heightened by Watler's drinking and the distress Alfred's wife, Lydia has for living in the colonies.

To become better acquainted with Maoris, Alfred engages the dispossessed Ngatai to accompany him on an expedition up the Wanganui River with John Rochfort, a Government surveyor seeking a route for a railway through the North Island. Rochfort genially disregards distress and poverty in the Maori villages and pushes forward even when the Maoris pull out his survey pegs. As attentive to Maori girls as to his duties, Rochfort is taken prisoner by hostile Maoris.  With Nagatai's reluctant help, Alfred assists Rochford to escape.

Honours are heaped on Alfred - for his bravery and his pictures. It only increases Walter's distress. Determined to assert himself, Walter exhibits his controversial pictures - with disastrous results for his brother and himself.