Enthusiastic young vet Jill Blake (Victoria Thaine) arrives in the dusty one-horse town of Paringa to find only a curt note directing her to her spartan new home. When her new boss, the notoriously "difficult" Kate McDonald (Rachel Ward), t…

Jill is shocked by the austerity of life in the drought-stricken area, and is sensitive to every sign of distress and decline. From the bruise on Gail Klein's cheek to Kate's attempt to exclude her from Tom Huppatz's father's funeral, Jill …

Achmed Aziz (Panda Likoudis), an Iraqi agronomist, arrives on a study tour and Kate (Rachel Ward) fears he will submit a report on the condition of the local sheep. Having rebuffed Jill's attempts to empathise with her, Kate then forces he…

Kate is injured in a cattle yard accident, forcing Jill to run the practice on her own. It seems the order of the world has been restored when Jill gets to do some refreshingly routine vet work and achieves results, mostly without Kate's h…

With Jill almost reconciled to the idea of an imperfect future with Kate, the past catches up with her when her father, brother and then Shane, all descend on them for an impromptu country lunch. All three men are there with the intention o…

Relieved of the burden of her secret, Kate appears to have lost the will to challenge the area's destiny. Threatened by the fact that rival vet James Campbell will expose her decision not to notify the authorities about the sheep disease, …