How resilient is the human condition? In 1868, a Danish family immigrating to Australia is shipwrecked on the way through Torres Strait. The mother and several children are lost. Only the father, his eldest daughter and nephew survive to embark upon the new live they planned in this new land too far from their homeland. Kindness and opportunities that present almost from the moment of their rescue lead to a different life from the one they planned. The story charts their new lives through all the highs, lows, joys and tragedies thrown at them over the ensuing decades. It tells of a family's adjustment to their new life in an embryonic settlement on the central Queensland coast. It also follows the life of a young girl as she blossoms into womanhood and becomes a mother. Just as in real life, that fateful shipwreck isn't the only tragedy to intrude in this family's lives.