Thirteen-year-old David finds living with his family very difficult. He and his sister Emma are a very typical bickering pair of siblings, who suddenly find themselves hurled into another age of New Zealand. When hit by a car, David awakens, with Emma there too, in a humble and ramshackle cottage in 1840s. He soon figures out that he and his sister have been taken back in time to a whaling station of settlement-era NZ. David struggles to adapt to the harsh environment and eventually his memory of the past fades. As well as having to learn quickly about life and its differences from contemporary, urban NZ - as well as help out at the station - David and Emma must combat subterfuge in the village, to save their new family's livelihood.. In a life or death situation he is challenged in a way he could never have imagined possible.