A tale of two very different sisters whose 1890s voyage from London into
remote outback Australia becomes a journey of self-discovery, set
against a landscape of wild beauty and savage dispossession. London in
1891: Harriet Cameron is a talented young artist whose mother died when
she was barely five. She and her beloved sister Sarah were brought up by
their father, radical thinker James Cameron. After adventurer Henry
Vincent arrives on the scene, the sisters' lives are changed forever.
Sarah, the beauty of the family, marries Henry and embarks on a voyage
to Australia. Harriet, intensely missing Sarah, must decide whether to
help her father with his life's work or to devote herself to painting.
When James Cameron dies unexpectedly, Harriet is overwhelmed by grief.
Seeking distraction, she follows Sarah to Australia, and afterwards into
the outback, where she is alienated by the casual violence and great
injustices of outback life. Her rejuvenation begins with her friendship
with an Aboriginal stockman and her growing love for the landscape. But
this fragile happiness is soon threatened by murders at a nearby cattle
station and by a menacing station hand who is seeking revenge.
