A disfigured and abused boy, Dexter Knight grows to manhood with only his own mind as a constructive guide for how to live and how to be a man. When he loses his childhood love to cancer, he pulls up stakes and moves to the west Queensland town of Brighton. Dexter makes a place for himself there, but remains a lonely outsider on the fringes of society until a bitter and dangerous industrial dispute draws battle lines through the community.

Strong-willed and independent Maree Waldon is one of the few townspeople who always took the time to talk to Dexter. Her boyfriend flees, but Maree sticks with family and friends.

Escalating stakes prove the true mettle of all. Where will "the man without a face" and the young woman with a big heart stand at the end of this bitter war?