When Rowland Sinclair offers to fly internationally renowned Czech novelist and peace advocate Egon Kisch to Melbourne to kick off a speaking tour, he has no clue that the government has charged the Attorney General with preventing Kisch from stepping foot on Australian soil. Then Jim Kelly, a known Communist, is ruthlessly murdered on the Parliament House steps. It is soon evident that an extreme fascist group is also intent on keeping Kisch's words from ever reaching their countrymen's ears. Rowland, meanwhile, reconnects with his first love, who has returned after years abroad and seeks him out. When the two are photographed in flagrante delicto by reporters, Rowland fears he has ruined her reputation, and proposes marriage --- despite the fact that his heart belongs to someone else.