George Chamberlain's father was violent towards him and threw him out when he was fourteen. George was decisive and clever and not shackled by the social rules of the times. After he died he left an oral record of his experiences for his great grandson Nic so when he was old enough, Nic can fulfil George's wishes. Nic falls in love with Arisa Abe, a Japanese overseas student trapped in New Zealand by Covid-19 lockdowns. As the lockdowns of the Covid-19 pandemic are eased and with school over Nic sets off on his journey to study orangutans and to follow George's wartime footsteps. He seeks the people who saved George's life, Su Ang, the young woman who lived in a longhouse in the jungle and Abe Hideyoshi, the Japanese soldier who befriended him. Nic also seeks Arisa to find why she left so urgently.