Sal Thornhill is a self-assured young woman, full of fiery loyalty to her husband Will, and prepared to travel with him when he is sentenced to New South Wales. She makes an agreement with Will that they will spend five years on the Hawkesbury in an effort to 'make a pile' so that they can return home to the Thameside London she loves and yearns for, in comfort.

Hard as it is for her as the mother of three young children, Sal determines to make something of their remote pioneer life on the Hawkesbury. She endures Will's long absences with good humor, and befriends local Aboriginal women. But as tensions rise along the river, and there is an obvious danger to her and the children, she confronts her husband with a devastating demand - that they leave the place he has grown to love. A gulf opens up between them, and it will take all Sal's steadfastness in the wake of a terrible tragedy, to unite them again.