'Marriage isn't always a bed of roses. And there are many ways to be a wife,' the vicar informs the town ...

It's 1930, and as the Depression overtakes rural New South Wales, what it means to be a wife tests the four respectable ladies of Prospect to their very limit.

Louisa Worthington fled to the city ten years ago, pregnant, poor and under a cloud of scandal. Now she's back - blonde and brazen - with her heart set on the married son of the town's mayor.

Adelaide Nightingale, newly widowed and starved of romance, yearns for adoration, security and a version of herself defined by beauty not business.

Maggie Albright dreams of empire building, but is hamstrung by her over-cautious husband, who grows less handsome by the day.

Then there's Pearl Fletcher, happily married to Joe, the district's most successful sheep farmer, but protecting a secret that could tear their family apart.

And hovering in the town's shadows is a ghost from their past. A man newly released from jail ruthlessly bent on exploiting the ladies' hopes and fears to get what he wants. And what he wants is Louisa . . .