Paul Hogan plays Lightning Jack Kane, a Hyperopia Australian outlaw in the American west, with his horse, Mate. After the rest of his gang is killed in a robbery-gone-wrong, Jack survives only to read of the events in the newspaper that he was nothing next to others. Annoyed at not being recognised as an outlaw, Jack attempts a robbery by himself, and ends up taking young Muteness Ben Doyle (Cuba Gooding Jr.) as a hostage. He later discovers that, tired of never having been treated with respect due to his disability, Ben wishes to join him.