'The protest, a lament for that lost ferment of Australian art and ideas and succeeding cultural deadness, is subtle but sure.' -- Hal Colebatch, The West Australian Richard is a young writer running from his hometown of Perth in search of a freer existence in Melbourne. His best friend is an ex-boxer turned black marketeer and his girlfriend is an old-fashioned ''tart'' with heart. Against the background of post-war censorship and isolation, Richard struggles to find cultural nourishment. With a profound dismay about the directions we have followed in the post-war world, Cowan challenges some of our most cherished assumptions about our identity, our culture and the land.