Shortly after, Sneaky Snook, the mailman, and his dog, Lightning, discover the burning wreckage. Sheep wander dazed along the roadside; several are trapped in the truck, burning alive. Warren is conscious but bleeding internally from a ruptured liver, demanding Sneaky tend to the sheep. Phil appears lifeless. Sneaky assumes Matt is dead too, but Lightning stands protectively over the boy, licking his face. Matt’s eyelid twitches, revealing a faint pulse. Sneaky loads all three into his truck and drives 20 miles to a roadhouse to summon the Flying Doctor. Dr. Finbar Rafferty, a longtime family friend, arrives by plane.

That morning, Lorna MacBride is baking Matt’s birthday cake when two policemen, including Sergeant Wisheart, arrive to break the news: Phil and Warren are dead; Matt is critically injured. Lorna and Rose are devastated. Rose insists on traveling to the hospital in Perth to be with Matt.

Word spreads rapidly over the Sched, the shortwave radio network. Neighbors arrive to help. Maudie Knapp comes first, organizing assistance from her husband Charlie and neighbor Bob Sowerby. Lorna, in shock, obsesses about funeral arrangements, momentarily confused about which son has survived.

Charlie Knapp barely recognizes Lorna when he arrives—the vibrant, capable woman he knew appears transformed by grief, waxy-faced and stooped.

Lorna married Phil in 1933 after meeting him at a Perth ball and adapted brilliantly to station life, becoming known for her competence and warmth. She and Maudie Knapp represent the resilient station women who stay through brutal summers, managing households, teaching children, shooting snakes, and supporting their husbands through droughts and crises.

Rose inherited her mother’s practicality and strength—stocky and tenacious, she can wrestle rams and change tires as easily as her brothers. Yet Lorna has long harbored a private worry that Rose does not always tell the truth. A flashback reveals young Rose’s habit of blaming her younger brother Matt, whom the family calls Bubba, for her own misdeeds. When Lorna discovered her treasured honeymoon hat damaged, she confronted her children. Warren denied involvement, but Rose tried to blame Matt before her blush gave her away. Lorna later wrote to Phil, serving in North Africa, about the incident. He replied that Rose would grow out of the lying, but Lorna’s worry persisted.

Pete Peachey, the station’s kangaroo shooter, is a quiet, meticulous man with a mysterious past. A decorated marksman who won the King’s Medal in the war, he was later taken prisoner by the Japanese. He speaks little and has no known family. Despite his profession, he maintains scrupulous cleanliness and has unexpected skills, like baking exceptional ginger cake.

A 1947 flashback reveals the time 10-year-old Rose appeared at Pete’s camp one evening, announcing she had run away after fighting with Warren. When Rose held out her hand expecting punishment, Pete refused to hit her. Instead, he made a deal: He would teach her about the moon if she promised to return home and not run away again until she grew much taller. He explained the moon’s phases and how Earth only ever sees one side—the other side is the moon’s own business.

An undated scene shows Pete’s private ritual. After washing kangaroo blood from his body in a creek, he plays opera on a gramophone. He gazes at his reflection, then retrieves a crimson silk item from his bag, stroking it tenderly as the music plays.

Sneaky Snook, whose given name is William, drives the weekly mail route with his three-legged dog Lightning. Despite his disheveled appearance and fondness for beer, Sneaky is deeply trusted for his discretion with the mail and his ability to make everyone feel important.

Pete Peachey uses Meredith Downs as his mail address and receives packages from Perth and occasionally overseas. He developed a close mentoring relationship with Rose, teaching her about tracking, constellations, and music. He gave her records and colorful hair ribbons, telling her that appreciating beautiful things would help her through difficult times. Phil trusted Pete completely with his daughter.

A flashback shows young Rose’s lingering resentment for punishment for smashing Warren’s Meccano set. She resolved never to take blame for anything again and invented a ritual to make guilt disappear: write a confession and burn it while saying “away” backward. She demonstrated the ritual to seven-year-old Matt, claiming she had already used it to erase her guilt over breaking their mother’s necklace. When Matt protested, Rose pressured him to try. She produced a notepad and a brass cigarette lighter. Matt wrote a confession about wetting his pants when scared, signed it, and burned the note. He felt relief and vowed to try the ritual again.

The abandoned Proserpine Mine on Meredith Downs was the MacBride children’s favorite play area. Established in the late 1800s by Phil’s great-uncle Herbert for tantalite mining, it failed commercially but left behind a place perfect for imaginative games. Rose always played male roles, while Warren made the rules.

In 1948, Warren left for Scotch College boarding school in Perth, followed by Rose to St. Margaret’s Ladies’ College in 1950. On New Year’s Eve 1951, while their parents were away, Rose appeared in makeup and a padded bra. Provoked, Warren scrubbed the makeup off her face, declaring she had a reputation at his school and warning her against leading boys on.

In 1953, Matt started at Scotch College and became close friends with Hughie Dumpton, nicknamed Humpty, whose family owned a massive sheep station near Nullarbor. On a bus ride home, Humpty outlined his detailed life plan: captaining the school cricket team, playing for Western Australia and Australia, winning the Ashes, then managing his family’s station and living to 94 years and three months.

In 1955, however, a diving catch at cricket crushed Humpty’s spinal cord, leaving him paralyzed. When Matt visited his friend in the hospital, Humpty was bitter and asked Matt to bring him a gun to die by suicide, threatening never to see him again if he refused. After agonizing, Matt told his mother, who informed Humpty’s mother and the hospital.

The homestead’s grandfather clock, Old Wally, maintains order with its steady ticking and hourly chimes, a civilizing presence in the vast outback.

In late 1955, Warren clashes with Phil over station management, pushing for higher stock numbers while Phil counsels caution. Lorna has kept from Phil the news that Rose received detention for an unauthorized trip to town.

Then, in November 1955, Rose is expelled from St. Margaret’s for being caught with a boy named Derek on school property. Rose eventually explains that Derek said he loved her and threatened to find someone else if she refused him. Phil is furious and contacts Derek’s parents, who blame Rose for leading their son on. Then, he arranges for Rose to sit her exams. Lorna lectures Rose about how shame affects the entire family. That night, Rose performs her burning ritual to make the incident disappear.

Weeks later, during the summer holidays, Matt visits Wallaby Ridge, where he daydreams about sailing away on the Alpha Crucis and charting his own course. His parents do not yet know that he recently gave another student a bloody nose for insulting Rose.

After scraping through her exams, Rose reconciles with Phil. Appreciating her practical abilities, he teaches her to maintain the station’s records. In 1957, Phil plans to send Rose to City Commercial College in Perth for secretarial training that will make her a better marriage prospect.

Then, the narrative shifts to describe the meticulous record-keeping required for station life—ledgers, wool returns, vermin records, meteorological observations, and diaries documenting every event—serving practical purposes for authorities but also adding meaning to lives subject to chance.

On September 3, 1957, Rose’s handwriting in the station diary records a momentous arrival. Miles Beaumont, son of the wealthy Lord Beaumont who has pastoral holdings across the British Empire, arrives at Meredith Downs. His family is expanding into Western Australian wool, and Miles has been sent to shadow Phil and Warren for several months. When the handsome and impeccably dressed Englishman emerges from the car, Rose is immediately infatuated. His sophisticated luggage heightens her excitement about this visitor from a world far beyond Wanderrie Creek.

Days after Miles arrives, Rose delivers blankets to his house and hears him playing an old piano. He invites her for tea, and she glimpses his tidy room and catches his distinctive aftershave. Miles confesses he knows nothing about sheep and worries Warren is laughing at him. To spend time with him, Rose offers to explain station operations. Using a map, she covers the paddock system, the distinction between farms and pastoral leases held from the Crown, and the annual cycle of mustering, shearing, and lamb marking. As she talks, she spots a letter addressed to someone named Sandy.

Afterward, Miles continues his letter to Sandy, reflecting on the overwhelming remoteness of Meredith Downs compared to his comfortable London life. Then, at the annual Town versus Hands cricket match, Miles reveals he is an exceptional cricket player and earns the nickname “Omo,” after washing powder, for his spotless whites. The next morning, he alone appears fresh and ready for work. When Miles mentions a bruise, he quotes Keats about the persistence of touch, captivating Rose.

A month later, she discovers a magazine article about his aristocratic family and debutante sister Alexandra. The revelation fuels her infatuation and dreams of a more glamorous life. However, her attempts to initiate romance with Miles are consistently and politely rebuffed. The year 1957 ends, and January 10, 1958, approaches.

The narrative reflects on how dreams fade like abandoned outback structures, once full of hope and now reduced to ruins. Matt’s experience of the crash is described as his soul being flung from his body into a space between life and death.

Almost a week after the accident, Matt wakes in Royal Perth Hospital. He does not recognize Lorna and violently lashes. Nurse Raglan explains he is confused and not fully conscious. Then, the neurologist, Dr. Linto, tells Lorna and Rose that Matt will survive, but the extent of recovery from traumatic encephalopathy is uncertain. The injury has caused his brain to regress, and his amnesia may or may not improve. He warns of potential problems like aggression, poor judgment, lack of inhibition, and inappropriate behavior. He cautions against telling Matt about the accident yet, as the information could make him paranoid, delusional, or suicidal.

Rose sits silently, overwhelmed by private guilt. Lorna grieves for the Matt she knew, now replaced by a volatile stranger. Dr. Linto advises Lorna to return home while the hospital cares for Matt.

At night, Lorna grieves for Phil, missing his physical presence and their shared routines. During the war she feared he might die in North Africa, but he returned unharmed, only to be killed decades later by a kangaroo. She thinks of Warren, who will never outgrow his arrogance, and of Matt, whose brilliant mind may never recover.

Neil Tinnett from Dalgety’s visits the homestead. Shocked by Lorna’s haggard appearance, he discusses the station’s business. Lorna learns their finances are sound—Phil managed the property wisely. Neil suggests asking Miles Beaumont to extend his stay and help manage the station. Lorna agrees. Miles readily accepts, remarking that it feels good to be wanted. Driving away, Neil considers the possibility of an impending drought and reflects that the MacBrides’ luck seems to have turned bad.

Dr. Linto explains to Rose that memory returns slowly after traumatic brain injury, growing both backward from the present and forward from the distant past. Matt can form new short-term memories, but they are fragile. He recalls his name and childhood but struggles to retain recent events.

After receiving permission, Rose tells Matt that Phil and Warren died in the crash, but he forgets and asks again. He becomes convinced their mother is dead when she does not visit. Sergeant Wisheart interviews Matt at the hospital, but he remembers nothing about the accident.

His personality changes unpredictably. When a fellow patient with amputated legs offers a cigarette, Matt accepts and becomes a smoker. When asked if he speaks French, he is uncertain. At the end of January, Matt sits on his hospital bed, rocking back and forth with his knees hugged to his chest. The surgical scar on his scalp remains visible where hair has not grown back. Rose watches him, overwhelmed by guilt.

Nearly a month after the crash, Lorna enters the Fruit Crate room, where the family stores their keepsakes in cloth-lined fruit crates. She looks at the box containing her wedding dress, remembering young Rose enchanted by its seed pearls and lace.

She reviews the crate she shared with Phil—their wedding invitation, fabric samples from curtains she made, a menu from their 20th anniversary, Phil’s citation from the Pastoralists’ and Graziers’ Association. So much time compressed into such a small space. Opening Warren’s crate, she realizes with sadness that this crate is now complete. She believes her own crate with Phil is also complete. She looks at the crates belonging to Rose and Matt, still with futures ahead of them.

Old Wally, the grandfather clock, had stopped working because Lorna overwound it. After the clock is repaired, Lorna reinstates the nocturnal strikes, because the gentle hourly reassurance helps her sleep.

In early February, Matt transfers to Shenton Park Rehabilitation Center for intensive therapy. Rose observes his difficulty standing on one leg, walking with eyes closed, tracing letters, clipping pegs onto string. His mood swings violently between sullen silence, hysterical laughter, and sudden rage.

Matt inappropriately grabs a nurse’s breast; she explains to Rose that loss of inhibition is typical with head injuries. In early March, Rose shaves off Matt’s beard. When Matt picks up a newspaper about the Queen Mother’s upcoming visit and asks who the Queen Mother is, the thought vanishes moments later. Rose feels a mix of relief and guilt that his memory of the crash period remains absent.

The narrative flashes back to Tuesday, January 7, 1958. Rose, frustrated with station life and inspired by a friend’s European travels, decides to ask Miles about traveling to London. Miles had mentioned wanting to see the Proserpine Mine before leaving, and Matt was eager to show him. To get time alone with Miles, Rose devises a plan to trick Matt into taking her place at the January 10 Young Pastoralists’ meeting. She lies to Matt, telling him Pattie Gosden, his secret crush, will be there—though she knows this is untrue—and offers to show Miles the mine herself. Matt, excited about seeing Pattie, tells their father he will swap with Rose.

On January 10, while her father and brothers depart for Wanderrie Creek, Rose rides to Proserpine Mine with Miles. They explore the abandoned site; Miles tells her the myths of Tantalus and Persephone. They find Warren’s old toy car, which Rose had hidden years ago. Aboveground, Rose confides her dream of traveling to England, and Miles encourages her, offering to connect her with friends and his sister Alexandra in London. As they prepare to leave, Rose feels happy about her future possibilities. Her horse steps on the old, flattened warning sign at the mine entrance, and she smiles, thinking of the freedom that lies ahead of her.