It starred Phillip Rhodes, Deborah Wai Kapohe, Jonathan Lemalu, and Rawiri Paratene.

It relates the true story of the friendship between Māori chief Hōhepa Te Umuroa and English colonist Thomas Mason during the New Zealand Wars.

Hōhepa is befriended by Pākehā (white New Zealander) settlers Thomas and Jane Mason.

The local Māori become disillusioned with the arrival of colonists, and land disputes lead to bloodshed; the Masons depart for Tasmania.

Newly-appointed Governor of New Zealand Sir George Grey identifies Hōhepa as a rebel; he and other Māori are captured and sentenced to hard labour for life in the penal colony of Tasmania, and their land is confiscated.