Melbourne, 1871- John King is dying far from the deserts he traversed with the legendary Burke and Wills. Ten years on from that fateful expedition, King is finally ready to tell his story. The young Irishman had already endured the horrors of the Indian Mutiny when he signed on with the erratic Burke to explore a land he knew little about. As one of the advance group who pushed on to the Gulf of Carpentaria - only to be abandoned later by the rest of their party - King was with Wills as he penned his final letter, and at Burke's side when he died. Then he was alone, the sole survivor, though barely alive when rescued by Alfred Howitt. But Howitt is a man who cannot let things be, and now he seems more inquisitor than saviour. He wants to know what King knows before it's too late . . .