Follow the lives of four men on the outside of the law in 1860's outback Australia, as they come up against authority, the rich and greedy, and the weaknesses of their own hearts. After a month away from Hopetoun, Jack and Dan return home to find new Superintendent of Police, Fuller, arriving, causing their existence as bushrangers to come under threat. Jack rekindles his romance with pub owner, Mary, but any hope for a future with her is snuffed out when Fuller captures the Wild Boys.
Jack awakes after being shot, to find a shocking discovery at the Ryan farm. Cared for by Mary, he's almost caught when Fuller raids her pub. But when Jack learns that Joey Butler was behind the shooting at the farm, he sets off for revenge, ruining Mary's plan for a new life.
Mary's bar is burnt down as a result of foul play, and Jack decides to rob the Hopetoun Bank to try to help her.
With the Hopetoun Cup being run in town, Jack is determined to ride and win the event - and make a nice score by stealing the favourite, painting it up and entering it as their own. With Frank Butler in town to look for the killer of his brother, Fuller determined to fill his jail with criminals and a dangerous detective hired by the bank to find the culprits, the boys are in the midst of a very deadly enterprise. But Scanlon is riding in the race, and Jack is going to do anything it takes to stop him winning.
Dan's past comes back to haunt him when an old girlfriend convinces him to marry her — the gun pointed at his head is very convincing. The Wild Boys are also being threatened by a new bushranger in town, Captain Moonlite, who's dangerous, eccentric and rather elusive. Emilia's new suitor, Rupert Wentworth, chosen by her father, turns out to be more charming than Emilia imagined, if not a little flamboyant. Meanwhile, in an effort to protect Tommy, Jack puts his life on the line at the miner's court.
With body parts turning up in the bush around Hopetoun, there are rumours that a cannibal is on the loose. When Scanlon pulls a dead woman from the river, he comes to realise that a villain from the days he was a cattle duffer with Jack has returned.
In the midst of a rum shortage as a result of a spate of hold-ups, which are wrongly blamed on Jack, Fuller convinces Emilia to set the boys up to save Conrad. When the sting goes wrong and Conrad's shot, Jack's convinced they have a rat in in their ranks. As loyalties are questioned and suspicions raised, Jack comes up with a dangerous plan to help Mary and save Conrad.
Just as the Wild Boys are relinquishing their plans to target Hopetoun's Assayer, they run into Jessie, a disarming female bushranger with a taste for risk-taking. She convinces them to join forces with her, but soon enough Jessie's flawless plan is looking far more complicated. Not only does she lead the Wild Boys into a seemingly impossible robbery but she leads Jack into a seemingly impossible scrape with Mary. And it turns out that there's more to her 'spirited' nature than meets the eye; she's got a personal score to settle in Hopetoun.
Mary's thrilled to have her younger brother Ben come to town. He's fun, charming and a great uncle to Tommy. But Ben has other reasons for coming to Hopetoun, and they don't involve family. He enlists the help of the Wild Boys in what appears to be a straight-up cash robbery. Except it's not - they find themselves holding up the Rope Gang, a seriously nasty group of bushrangers, and nothing goes to plan. Shortly after, Tommy is kidnapped and a ransom demanded. But even once Mary scrabbles the money together, with substantial help from Fife, Tommy is not handed over. The hunt for Tommy is is on - led by Fuller, Scanlon at Mary's side. The Wild Boys conduct their own investigation as Jack becomes obsessed with finding Tommy and returning him safely to Mary.
When the Butlers target farmer George, he seeks the Wild Boys' help. While fighting off the Butlers' assault, Jack realises that Frank Butler was also part of the original murder of the Ryans.
When Conrad comes into possession of a map, the race is on for the gold. Breaking away with Mad Dog Morgan, one of the baddest bushrangers roaming the wild, Conrad is soon pursued by the rest of the Wild Boys, Scanlon and the Traps. Meanwhile, with Emilia looking for her missing editor, Mary investigating new business opportunities and Jack probing the deaths on the Old East Road, the net is closing in more ways than one and not everyone is going to come out alive.
Ruby is murdered and it seems it all has to do with the Old East Road. It is not clear if she was killed by her 'lover' Fuller or mistaken for Catherine who has inherited the property of Old George.
Facing the rope, the Wild Boys are offered a reprieve by Fife — rescue Emilia from the Butler Gang and he'll pardon them. Conrad is held back however, to ensure they don't just run for the border. Dan and the boys must confront their greatest threat as they battle to save the town and bring justice to the guilty.
