In 1989 the trimaran Rose Noelle set sail from Picton, New Zealand, for Tonga with four men on board. After a freak wave turned the boat upside down, they drifted for 119 days before landing on Great Barrier Island.

The 500,000 strong Napoleon's army moves through Russia and causes much destruction culminating in the battle of Borodino. The Russian army has to retreat. Moscow is occupied, looted and burned down, but soon Napoleon loses control and has to flee. Both sides suffer tremendous losses in the war, and Russian society is left irrevocably changed.

Dev who, after spurning Paro's love due to a misunderstanding, turns to drugs and vodka for solace. Paro moves on but Dev still is in remorse. He meets Chanda, a prostitute with problems of her own. Dev likes her but his penchant for self-destruction prevents him and Chanda from truly getting together. He also meets sleazy people like Chunni, Chanda's pimp who drags Dev further into self-destruction to further his own needs.

Deep in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains in West Virginia, where every man owns a gun and a moonshine still, abides living legend Jesco White, "the dancing outlaw". As a boy Jesco was in and out of reform school and the insane asylum. To keep him out of trouble, his daddy D-Ray taught him the art of mountain dancing, a frenzied version of tap dancing to wild country banjo music. After his father's death, crazy Jesco dons his father's tap shoes and takes his show on the road.