Mutual kidnapping between the Maori and the English inhabitants in New Zealand had dated back to the 1760s. In 1869, After an English defeat in battle in the Taranaki forest, one Maori boy, aged five, was captured and adopted by the Prime Minister. Educated to become a lawyer and an `English gentleman`, Ngataua Omahuru (or little `William Fox`), had played a crucial role in New Zealand`s history. More surprisingly as Peter Walker followed the little captive out of the forest and into the drawing rooms of Wellington and London, he found himself on a personal journey which converged unexpectedly with tale he had uncovered.