In Australia's Outback , the impoverished Carmody family lives a nomadic life out of their wagon. Ida, the mother, and Sean, the son, want to settle down, but Paddy has wanderlust and never wants to stay in one place for long. While passing through the bush, the family meet refined Englishman Rupert Venneker and hire him to help drive a large herd of sheep to the town of Menindee Lakes. Along the way, they survive a dangerous brush fire.