Sentenced to transportation to Australia, for trying to kill her incestuous father, Maryanne Watson boards a convict ship. During the journey she meets and falls in love with an American convict, Jake Smith. Jake hides a terrible family secret that if it ever saw the light of day, would send him to the gallows.

When they arrive at the penal colony, she is assigned to Captain Miles Fitzhugh. After he rapes her she flees for her life. She finally meets up with Jake who has escaped from a chain gang, gone bush and lives with the aborigines.

They roam the wilderness together trying to find their utopia. When Maryanne falls pregnant, Jake, who has a price on his head, risks coming out of hiding, so he can legally marry her so their child will not be born illegitimate.