Late January 1985 Dame Kiri is launching Vukovich Sauvignon Blanc on the Sydney Opera House steps with major shareholders the Delaney family present. The American nuclear warship the Buchanan is in harbour for ANZUS exercises and protesters are out in force, among them Ali Delaney and her American boyfriend. Detective Sergeant Maria Pikowai, née Delaney, is in town as protection detail for New Zealand Prime Minister David Lange secretly meeting his Australian counterpart Bob Hawke in the Sydney Hilton hotel. DS Pikowai joins Australian and American security forces confronting plots to sink the warship, kidnap Lange and destroy the ANZUS accord. Then there are the Delaney family problems damned and potentially redeemed by the convict stain.