Based on real events, Kikia te Poa is the story of John Cook, a Māori man, who enlists in a white man’s war to prove himself. Through the horrors of war, and his contact with the enemy, John learns that self-respect is not found on the battlefield.
After an attack he finds himself in charge of a Boer prisoner. Everything he believes is challenged to the very core. In the end both men meet each other on the rugby field, in a battle more fierce and heartfelt than the real war.