Born on a poor dairy farm in Queensland, Frank Harland's life is centred on his great artistic gift, his passionate love for his father and four brothers and his need to repossess, through a patch of land, his family's past. The story spans Frank Hariand's life from before the First World War, through years as a swaggie in the Great Depression and Brisbane in the 40s, to his retirement to a patch of Australian scrub where he at last takes possession of his dream.