After the unrestricted and painful confessions on the night of Mary Carson's seventy-fifth birthday celebration followed by her sudden demise, Father Ralph de Bricassart begins his meteoric rise in the Roman-Catholic Church, as the executor of the deceased's will. As the ambitious priest tries to find his feet in early-1930s-Sydney, for the first time, Meggie finds herself all alone without her mentor, struggling to cope with a new reality and a string of tragic deaths that threaten to take over her life. However, even though Father Ralph seems to have already made up his mind, an audacious and resourceful suitor in the person of the handsome young farmhand, Luke O'Neill, provides a thrilling but risky diversion. Is this the beginning of a new life without Ralph?
—Nick Riganas