 The film is about Jamie, a young man in his formative teen years, growing up in rural subtropical town of Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia, set around World War I. Jamie, raised by this grandmother, enjoys his life in "Bundy", until the town's reaction to the insanity of a local preacher leads him to leave his hometown for life in the city.Michael Pate was a neighbour of Robert McKie, who wrote the novel.Pate optioned it and tried to find a writer to adapt it into a screenplay but ended up doing it himself.