When 14-year-old Stan is confronted by the local school bully he is forced to defend himself, leading to a fight that will change the course of his life and those dearest to him, including those living in the small town in which he was raised. He fears for his freedom, flees the family home and goes 'bush' on his own, with very little in supplies and some bush sense learnt from his father, who was an avid bushman. In his desperate escape from the authorities, he is adopted by a pup and befriended by an Aboriginal elder who is escorting two young Indigenous men searching for the wild horses known as brumbys. Stan is reported missing, and a search is quickly mounted for the missing teenager. As a drug scourge hits the small town of Manketon, the small police station is woefully undermanned before their numbers are slightly boosted after two dead bodies are found outside of the town. Can the police overcome the town's drug menace and solve the mystery of the two deaths, while finding young Stan and bringing him home safe and sound? In this coming-of-age adventure, the author takes you on a suspenseful and sometimes humorous ride through the beautiful Australian landscape interwoven with the many characters who inhabit the small town.