Allen Knight and Thomas Newman were eleven and ten years old respectively when they were convicted in England for larceny and given ten-year sentences. They spent a thousand days together in Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of Wight before being transported to the Swan River Colony in Western Australia aboard the transport ship 'Shepherd'.

Assigned as apprentice coopers at the Fremantle Whaling Company, they plan an escape and abscond by joining the crew of the whaleship 'William Badger', under the command of Captain Augustus Perkins. They are befriended by the whaleship's surgeon, Dr. Noah Folger. They spend twenty months as greenhand whalers before the Badger takes them back to Boston in the United States of America.

Through direct encounters with the slave trade, abolitionists, and a slave auction in Charleston, South Carolina, they meet Okukeno, who travels with them as they seek their fortune as 49ers on the Californian goldfields. Edward Hargraves encourages them to return to New South Wales, where he believes gold is also to be discovered.

Realising that the real money to be made on the Australian goldfields is in setting up a store and selling clothes and equipment to prospectors, they make a small fortune. Following the gold trail to Victoria, they prosper again and become two of the richest eligible young bachelors in Melbourne.

Together they embark on a programme of self-improvement with innovative trainers, teachers, and tutors. Seeking love and family life, Allen and Tom's desires collide and a lifelong friendship comes under severe threat.