Although his plan is to lead an ordinary quiet life, Tress Tresilian, a Cornish fisherman, finds himself transported to the New Holland Port Jackson penal colony for a crime he did not commit. A chance meeting with Big John Caesar, a convict with a surprisingly illustrious past, sets him back on his feet. Tress learns that Caesar is descended from Madagascan royalty and that his young niece, Ilona, has just been betrothed to a tribal elder against her will. When Caesar's old adversary, Joseph Beaumont, arrives in the colony as a high-ranking official in the newly formed NSW Corporation, old...