It's the start of WWII in Northern Australia. The Japanese are getting close. People are evacuating and burning everything in a "scorched earth" policy. Rather than kill all their cattle, a disparate group decides to drive them overland half way across the continent, from Wyndham in Western Australia through the Northern Territory outback of Australia to pastures north of Brisbane, Queensland.

Chips Rafferty
as Dan McAlpine

John Nugent Hayward
as Bill Parsons

Daphne Campbell
as Mary Parsons

Jean Blue
as Mrs. Parsons

Helen Grieve
as Helen Parsons

John Fernside
as Corky

Peter Pagan
as Sailor

Frank Ransome
as Charlie

Stan Tolhurst
as Manager

Marshall Crosby
as Minister