The story of Reeve Harcourt Owen Lawson, better known by his initials as Rhol, an orphan at the tender age of 17 years and in his final year at a Grammar School in Perth Western Australia.
Shortly before his death, his father had purchased and arranged the delivery of a European river ship, and with the assistance of the family lawyer and the house butler, Rhol is able to remain at school and be in the guardianship of the family butler, until he turns 18 in a few months time.