A badly used and disillusioned AFP officer, absent without leave from his job, camps in solitude on an uninhabited island off the coast of Queensland. An accidental discovery leads him to deduce a connection between the ships using the Inner Passage and the smuggling of illicit drugs. It also leads to his permanent disappearance. Janszoon is a pathetically uninspired middle-aged teacher in the local school, the Crabpot is a lonely, defeated student who knows little other than failure and humiliation and Jabar is the family name of the missing man and the alluring wife who comes looking for him. Relevance, truth and self respect are their separate missions, but how to find those things and how to navigate the interference of those around them, remain mysteries.