At the age of sixteen, Thomasina Trelora, “Tom”, finds herself sailing for Australia to be married to a vicar she’s never met. She’s had a radical upbringing and isn’t too happy with the plan for her future, particularly the lack of any say in the matter. There is a shipwreck along the rocks on the coast and Tom finds herself rescued by an aboriginal man from the wreckage. She’s left on the verandah at Willowbrae, a well-to-do estate belonging to the Craw family in the middle of nowhere. At first, she feels she has gained a reprieve from her fate, and due to her (feigned) lack of memory, she tries…