 Macauley is a swagman on the road in the 1940s looking for work. He s a laid back, laconic sort of bloke but when he gets landed with his daughter after his drunken play-girl wife in Adelaide makes him face up to what she believes are his responsibilities, neither he nor his daughter are ready for each other. But in the beginning he s all she s got, and at the end, she s all he s got.