When the local newspaper offers a fully equipped bicycle to the young person submitting the best photograph of their pet with a suitable caption, Rebecca Porter quickly goes into the National Park with her cockatoo, Fancy. The photographic expedition goes well until a sandbank, on which she is posing Fancy, is threatened by the rapidly rising tide. While she is stranded, she meets Manuel, a ship’s deserter, who faces deportation. When Rebecca is eventually rescued, it is too late to enter the competition.