At a young age, Gawain is left by his parents with a community of hippies who live on old Tom Slipper's farm in the hills inland from the Gold Coast. His education is poor and his moral code misty. He thinks the Knights of the Round Table provide a good compass. Two bikies come to the Gold Coast and Gawain is infatuated with their boasting and bravado, agreeing to help them with a bank robbery. They carry this out successfully, but their career then spins out of control, plunging Gaawain into a series of ventures in which he comes close to hardened criminals and learns the downside of crime. We meet the burglar, Natty Fennel; Cal Azzard, the Prince of the Night, and Sydney-siders like Charlie Hopper who teach us something of crime; and of course, Sergeant Peter Griswald and Constable John Keiler who spend their time trying to bring them to justice.