Sister Katherine Flynn is an Irish nun sent to work in the remote Australian countryside of New South Wales. She is a prideful woman who joined her order to escape the shame of being left at the altar, though she didn’t really want to be married anyway. Katherine finds great relief in escaping the cold Victorian Ireland of 1872. Catriona Pelham is a member of the reasonably affluent farming gentry. Her relationship with the hardworking townspeople and its farmers is one of genuine and mutual respect. The town’s wealthy, however, have ostracized her due to her unorthodox ways and refusal to conform to society’s expectations of a woman of the 1870’s. As their bond develops, the journey begins for these two strong-willed women. For Katherine it is a journey of self-discovery and of what life holds outside the cloistered walls of the convent. For Catriona it is bittersweet, as feelings she has kept hidden for years resurface in her growing interest in Katherine.