The story of a 13-year-old deaf boy living in a small fishing town in South Australia in the 1950s. When Johnno's parents decide to send their son to a 'special school', he learns of their plans and makes a desperate escape to a desolate island. He is rescued just in time by his friend Tony, an Italian fisherman who helps him find a new and more independent course for his future.
Badge and Sam are cousins, and Badge has always felt daunted by Sam because he has spent time in the city and been exposed to a world Badge can only imagine having spent his whole life on a remote farm in the rugged southwest of Tasmania. However, the tables get turned once Sam's mother falls ill and his father is away working.
Nicos and Sofia Georgialis are Greek-Australian siblings who live in a comfortable inner-city suburb and win the first prize in a national lottery. To their amazement, they become the new owners of five hundred hectares of 'beautiful bushland' in Western Australia - 3,000 km from Melbourne which is home.
Peter (a quiet boy), Margaret (the mayor's intelligent daughter) and Wayne (the town bully) live in a small town called Gamma in North Queensland and are brought together by their sudden interest in Latin after discovering strange inscriptions on a cave wall.
When Kate turns fourteen she feels like the luckiest girl in the world. She has heaps of friends, a gorgeous home and very wealthy parents. her parents even gift her a seven meter yacht christened Princess Kate. Shortly afterwards, Kate finds out she was adopted.
Alice is a young, tough, independent child. Her mum, Sue, works as a blackjack dealer in the Darwin casino and so Alice has learnt to take care of herself. She's a no-nonsense kind of girl, which often lands her in sparring arguments with her friend Mick, an Aboriginal boy who goes to the same school.