A modern-day Ned Kelly struggles to save his family island. Since it's against his beliefs to rob banks for his own profit, he must find another way to come up with the money.
Though the primary influence on Serious's modern-day outlaw and folk hero is Ned Kelly (as in, for example, Reckless Kelly's name and armour), the character also has shades of Robin Hood (in, for example, his refusal to rob banks for his own profit and in Hugo Weaving's villain, 'Sir John').
Like Serious's previous film, Young Einstein, this film is alternate history (in the sense of the fantasy sub-genre): in this instance, Serious works from an Australian folk-hero, but his concern is as much with the myth (and the construction of myth) as it is with the reality.
