At the heart of this comedy-adventure series is Charles 'Chuck' Finn, a modern, hip, wisecracking young fellow, reluctantly dragged from the urban jungles of North America to the outback of Australia. At first, his only wish is to go back to Toronto, but with the gathering together of the gang of misfits who become his friends, Chuck eventually finds the new home and companions he longs for beneath his cocky and often abrasive front. The series centres around a once-derelict paddle steamer named the Tingalla Rose and the attempts of Chuck and his crew mates not only to get it back on the river, but to run it as the successful working vessel it was at the turn of the last century. There are many hindrances to this dream, not least being that the vessel is haunted by the amiable but unpredictable ghosts of two former passengers!