It is 1974, the Vietnam War is drawing to an end as is the long reign of the Conservative Government that sent the troops there, although it refuses to face the fact that the anti-war movement is the reason for its collapse in popularity.
Two close friends, Griffin-a Vietnam Veteran, and Lew-a draft dodger, buy a wrecked old Jaguar and, accompanied by a dog named The Monster, set out on an expedition from Melbourne to Cooktown. Ostensibly, the trip is to fiddle the registration of the car by juggling differing state regulations, but in fact it is to keep Lew out of the hands of the law, to whom he has foolishly exposed himself. And, although neither will admit it, both are in pursuit of lost loves who, for very different reasons, have run away to Queensland.
Although they chatter intimately in their own peculiar dialogue, a lot of things don't get admitted to. Griffin is trying to completely ignore the fact that his failure to readjust to the civilised world has completely ruined his life, and Lew strives to draw him out, to at least get him to talk about the war experiences that have plainly damaged him so badly. Griffin, on the other hand, sees his role as tempering Lew's excesses.
Interspersed with their various adventures, the history of their unlikely friendship is traced though the time of the growth of the anti-war movement, as a society gradually turns against the military ambitions of its leaders. For although the two friends have been travelling the same path, they have actually been heading in opposite directions, the one transforming into the other, and by the time they reach the far north and their various issues are resolved, so too are they headed for final confrontation with themselves.