When Daniel proves in no hurry to collect her for another season on the Mary B, Emma takes the time to visit friends at the Lockwood's River Bend property on the Darling. But her visit wasn't supposed to include murder.

And at first it doesn't. After all, exploding flour mills aren't all that uncommon. But then murmurs of murder and motives grow louder and Emma's friend finds himself under suspicion. But who was the intended victim – the miller with the roving eye or the eldest Lockwood brother who managed the family with a controlling hand?

Intent on helping her friends Emma quickly finds herself embroiled in the hidden agendas and secret passions of the Lockwood family, while at the same time dealing with the opposition of the handsome Lieutenant Forrester who objects to her involvement in the investigation. But amid the undercurrents Emma suspects she's being manipulated.

Can she stage a last ditch effort to unmask the killer in their midst before she has to return home?

And what will she find when she returns to Wirramilla? Are they finally free from the curse of that old promise? And what has she to look forward to if Daniel has finally tired of her company on the Mary B?