Jack Riordan grows up in the mountain country of New England in New South Wales. He is a skilled horseman and bushman.

He craves adventure and sails off for the war in South Africa. Jack is promoted and decorated before a wound sees him go home, where he sets up a carrying business with a bullock team and wagon.

Ettie, a nurse he met at the war comes home and the two marry. Ever looking for an opportunity to acquire land in Queensland, he moves his family there establishing a family business, logging and milling timber.

Finally, he realises his ambition of owning land. His hard work and enterprise lay the foundation of the Riordan family farming dynasty.