Film Investment Corporation of New Zealand

Cumberland, 1348. The plague is spreading in medieval England. The remote village of little Griffin is also threatened. But the 9-year-old boy has a recurring dream that holds the key to a tiny hope of survival: a lake with a coffin floating on it. A white church with an iron cross. A falling glove. A falling silhouette. A torch tumble through a dark shaft into infinity. With his brother he recognizes in it a prophecy to escape the Black Death. So they embark with a few men on a journey to a distant cathedral, where they want to set up an iron cross as an offering to God. Her path leads them through a deep and dark mine shaft into an unknown land and completely outlandish time - into the present-day New Zealand of the 1980s.

Willie, a likeable kid, forms a friendship with Rikki, a new arrival at the reform school. Willie discovers that Rikki is maybe tough enough to take on Karl, the kingpin. Although Rikki is strong, he does not like to fight, but tensions mount as Karl's bullying become more obnoxious. After being shown up by Willie, Karl loses his temper and gives Willie a thrashing. As a result, Willie joins with some other boys in an escape. They steal a car, get drunk, and have a serious accident. Meanwhile Rikki is in hospital, injured in a forestry "accident' engineered by Karl.