Joseph and Harriet Blackstone emigrate from Norfolk to New Zealad in search of new begginings and prosperity. But the harsh land near Christchurch threatens to destroy them almost before they begin. When Joseph finds gold in the creek he is seized by a repturous obsession with the voluptuous riches awaiting him deep in the earth. Abandoning his family and his farm, he sets off alone over the new gold-fields over the Southern Alps, a moral wilderness where many others, under the seductive dreams od 'the colour' are violently rushing to their destinies.