The robust and romantic novel of the Cleary family in the early 1900s. Paddy Cleary moves his wife, Fiona, and their seven children to Drogheda, the vast Australian sheep station owned by his autocratic and childless older sister. The central characters are Meggie, the only Cleary daughter, and the one man she truly loves, the stunningly handsome and ambitious priest Ralph de Bricassart. Ralph’s course takes him from a remote Outback parish to the halls of the Vatican; and Meggie’s heart – except for a brief and miserable marriage – is fixed to Drogheda, but distance does not dim their feelings though it shapes their lives. Paddy and Fiona, both carrying their secrets, and their hard-working sons, together with Meggie  and Father Ralph span over half a century – until the only survivor of the third generation, the brilliant actress Justine O’Neill, sets a course of life and love halfway around the world from her roots.