San Francisco, 1856. Irish-born James 'Yankee' Sullivan is being held in jail by the Committee of Vigilance, which aims to…
rout the Sydney Ducks from the town. As Sullivan's Australian mistress seeks his release and as his fellow prisoners are taken away to be hanged, the convict tells the story of his daring escape from penal servitude in Australia and how he became America's country's most celebrated boxer. Sullivan's extraordinary real-life tale of triumph and tragedy is recorded by Thomas Crane, a newspaperman and Mormon, with reasons of his own for being in San Francisco.