Set mainly in the Murchison goldfields of Western Australia at the turn of the 19th century, this is the story of the Mortimer family. Like so many others, they were carried on the wave of the gold rush to the tiny mining outpost of Wiluna then south for nearly a thousand miles to the tall timber country then back again to Perth during the dark days of World War I. Over the whole family is the brooding shadow of William Mortimer's fanatical family pride as he seeks the rich gold reef in all the wrong places and forgets what is true gold, and what is only fool's gold.