The year is 1822. Napoleon Bonaparte is dead, and Europe is at peace. British soldiers have become the policemen of the world. These things mean nothing to seventeen-year-old Patrick Hagen as he works on the family farm in Southern Ireland. His hard life is made harder with the death of his parents and, when his young sister is raped and murdered by two British officers, he decides he must avenge her. With only the clothes he stands up in he follows his murderers into England until, on the outskirts of London, he is accused of stealing a horse and is transported to Australia. To Patrick it seems as if his quest to avenge his sister is doomed to fail, for how can a convict in chains ever hope to get back to England. As the years pass he still doesn't give up hope. Every time he escapes he is recaptured and punished until one day he recognises one of the officers in Port Jackson.