About the title
1860s, Australia. The family of teenage Ned lives in poverty, and his mother resorts to prostitution to feed her children. When his father dies in prison — where he ended up because of a cow's leg that Ned had stolen — the boy is overcome with guilt. Some time later, the boy sets off with his mother's new acquaintance, Harry Power, to drive cattle, but soon discovers that his mother sold him to the outlaw, and Ned must help Harry deceive travelers in order to rob and kill them.