Sean Okden, 20 and his brother Mitchell, 22, are both in their early twenties and work at the Newcastle (Australia) steelworks.
However, they both have a hidden, and very bizarre talent (well for tellworkers anyway), they are both brilliant tap dancers.
Needless to say that Sean hates his job and wants to become a professional dancer even though these opportunities are non-existent in his area. Mitchell, on the other hand, is the complete opposite and really likes Newcastle (not hard really) and wants to start his own business by buying an expensive rig.
Sean persuades Mitchell to go along with him to a dance audition, egged on by his former dance teacher, Walter. Success is flying around as Sean is accepted into the Anthony Ford dance show which is being held in Sydney.
However, while at the audition Sean and Mitchell meet a beautiful and feisty woman called Linda. She soon falls for Sean in a big way, and the feeling, thankfully, is mutual. Upon telling her that he has to go to Sydney to work Linda assures Sean that she will wait for him, and even visit when he has settled into his new lifestyle and job.
However, with Sean gone, Mitchell moves in on Linda and one thing leads to another and the two end up in bed together, much to Linda's regret. However Mitch wont leave her alone and when Sean makes a surprise return from Sydney, after being sacked for being too good, he finds the two in bed together. This doesn't go down too well, as you can imagine, and the two fight.
Sean now decides not to let his experience in Sydney get him down, and fired up with his recent shock discovery, he forms his own tap troupe which he knows will far out do the one he was in over in Sydney.
Meanwhile Mitch gets into some business trouble which forces the two brothers to reconcile their differences. Soon Linda apologizes for her indiscretion and the two realise they are still in love and everything looks set to turn rosy, espeicially when the Bootmen's rehearsals look set to win over any audience.
Finding a debut venue, at the old steel works, the show takes off a storm with Sean's constant experimentation of the sounds of the taps and machines that surround them.
However when tragedy strikes the Okden family, will they be able to overcome it and make their way forward in life, or will their dreams come crashing down around their ears?
Bootmen is a Film programme that first aired in 2000 and has been classified a 15 certificate.
