Stephen Lovatt

A woman, who thinks she's Maori, works the graveyard shift at a petrol station and saves money to take her little brother in search of their father.

In 1865, a group escapes from a Confederate prison in a balloon, only to be carried halfway around the world. They are shot down while approaching land (which they later discover is an "uninhabited" island. The shooter (Nemo) wishes to make use of them for some experiments he has planned. The volcano on the island has other ideas.