Top Australian Police detective, Bart Corrigan, has annoyed his Commissioner once too often and is taken from the Murder Squad and given the mundane assignment of tracing and protecting a young European princess who persuaded her family to let her attend a ladies' academy in Brisbane but does a flit to learn to become a jillaroo, a female stockman. Bart has no trouble tracking her down at a jillaroo school in western Queensland and takes over the school so that he can watch over her. Princess Tessadonna Von Pramberg is dumpy with crooked teeth but she and Bart start to become interested in each other, which surprises everybody because Bart is a handsome man. Tessa is bitten by a venomous snake and Bart cares for her, saving her life out in the bush, before she is spirited home to her country by her family. Bart resumes his crime investigations and hears no more of Tessa, until a year later when she writes to him and sends him a computer so they can talk and see each other. She tells Bart that she's used the time to make herself worthy of him and when he sees her she is beautiful. She tells him she loves him and Bart admits his love for her. She invites him to her coronation in her home country of Bassenburg du Mont and they plan marriage. But others have other plans for Tessa and manage to keep Bart away from her. However, they plan an elopement and as Bart prepares to meet her, she comes to him and tells him she can't marry him and he should leave her country quickly. Angry and disillusioned with the upper class, Bart returns to duty in Brisbane but is badly hurt in a car smash and is put under Police protection. He thinks Tessa is searching for him but is not interested. Tessa, however, has other ideas...