'Tommy Bell has been sent to work on his grandparents' farm for the school holidays. He doesn't want to go, but when he discovers an old bushranger's hat hidden in a cave, everything changes. Suddenly he is sent back to the gold rush days and finds himself face-to-face with the bushranger Captain Thunderbolt! At first, the life of a bushranger seems full of thrills and adventure. But Tommy soon learns that it is full of danger as well...' .(Publication summary)