It is New Zealand 1959. Teen swimmer Alex Archer has to battle set backs, intense rivalry and personal tragedy in her bid to win selection for the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome.

Two freethinking teenagers - a boy and a girl - confront with authoritarian teachers in their boarding schools. The other students treat this differently.

To save his daughter's life and restore his reputation, disgraced ex-detective Nick Mathers must catch the sadistic Grand Master killer before time runs out, and the final piece is taken in the deadly game of chess.

Marsha Robinson, host of a TV cooking show, takes her family on a working vacation to a South Seas Island, but their yacht is hijacked by pirates, and then shipwrecked, and the Robinsons must survive Marsha's complaints while they build a treehouse, meet a handsome carpenter, bond together as a family and fight off the pirates