River Road takes an intimate look at the environmental, cultural, historical and economic factors that shape the ecology of our immediate surroundings, exploring regional ecology from a bicultural perspective. The authors trace a journey following the parallel arteries of the Waikato River and River Road, with the emphasis on being readers of the landscape.

Several distinct voices are brought to the project: the graphic designer Jonty Valentine provokes and navigates the reader through a multi-layered account of space and time, while Wiremu Puke launches his story-telling from the slopes of Taupiri, surveying the landscape and making his way upriver through Ngaruawahia and on to the city of Hamilton, writing about the creatures and the people who inhabit it.