It's 1969. Fifteen-year-old Billy Chapman is striving to become the kind of person his father would be proud of. There's just one hitch. His father died five years ago, leaving Billy and his family stranded in Port Augusta eight weeks after emigrating from England. Now his sister is married, and his older brother is fighting in the Vietnam War, leaving Billy to support his mum and little sister. An apprenticeship at the Railways provides a pathway to success, until he discovers that the older boys who bullied him at school are now second year apprentices. Torn between loyalties, and the desire to prove his worth, Billy finds both his job, and his life, on the line.