Her visit with friends wasn't supposed to include murder.

When Daniel proves in no hurry to collect her for another season on the Mary B, Emma takes the time for a pleasant visit with Deelie and Brendan O'Neill at the Lockwood's River Bend property on the Darling. Then two men die when a flour mill explodes.

An accident, surely. Exploding flour mills weren't all that uncommon. But not everyone is convinced. As murmurs of murder and motives grow louder Brendan finds himself under house arrest.

Emma is intent on helping her friends and is soon caught up in the hidden agendas and secret passions of the Lockwoods, but the handsome Lieutenant Forrester objects to her involvement in the investigation. Can she win him over and share information to solve the murders? Or will she leave behind a killer at River Bend?

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?