The pleasantness of Alexandrina’s journey through the outback of Australia to the man she is to marry, Paul Tyler is rudely spoilt by the appearance at her destination of Nick, Paul's attractive, arrogant elder brother and the shattering news that she has been jilted. Due to Nick's unhelpful nature, Alexandrina finds herself stranded at the huge sprawling station of Karatangi where she meets Nick's semi-invalid mother and the lively Kathy, his 'baby' sister and grows to know for the first time the security and bondship of family life. She grows to love them both, despite the realisation she will have to leave when Paul returns with his new wife. In an outbreak of forest fire Alexandrina is forced to reveal she is a nursing sister, not the spoilt town girl Nick believes her to be and a new understanding glows between them. Already half in love with Nick, Alexandrina agrees to marry him - a marriage of convenience to enable her to care for his sick mother — and to stay in the home she has come to look on her as her own. Her brief moment of happiness is cut short by the return of Paul and his wife, the beautiful Olivia - the girl Nick was once engaged to and who Alexandrina suspects he still loves.