First published in 1984, this is the story of how when Englishman Eyre Walker, newly arrived in Australia, meets the beautiful Charlotte Lindsay, romance quickly blossoms.

But theirs is a relationship with fatal consequences. When a late-night tryst is interrupted by Charlotte's irate father, Walker's young Aborigine servant is brutally killed by guard dogs. A man with a conscience, Walker is anxious to atone for the boy's death by giving him a proper Aboriginal burial.

And so he begins a marathon journey into the outback to search for Corroboree, the gathering of nomadic tribes for the age-old ritual. The expedition that he mounts is sponsored by Captain Sturt, a celebrated explorer who believes a huge ocean lies in the middle of Australia. But Walker finds something else in the middle of that vast continent, and the price he must pay for surviving it will scar him for life...