Claire has left behind the harshness of life in the outback for college and a career in Sydney. Estranged from her family, she is about to take up a position at a prestigious veterinary practice when her Great Aunt Aurelia summons her home to the family cattle station in Queensland. Claire's relationship with her parents and sister has never been easy, and it is the reunion with her indomitable mother, Ellie, she dreads the most. But coming from a long line of Warratah women famed for their grit and substance, Claire knows better than to shy away from a fight.

Ellie accepts that a reconciliation with her eldest daughter is long overdue. But to do so will mean she must face her own ghosts and reveal some of Warratah's more shameful secrets. She only hopes her family is strong enough to survive the coming storm.