Hawke's Bay. on New Zealand's east coast, suffers a repeat of the devastating earthquake of 1931. Now in 1994, intrepid helicopter pilot Emma Shripney is rescuing traumatised survivors. Assisting is a philanderer army lieutenant. A passionate romance blossoms, until it blows up. What continues in Emma's life is a flying commitment for an entrepreneur's business consortium aiming to exploit TV coverage of the 2000 Millennium sunrise with a replica 'Stonehenge Pacific'. But Maori folklore belief in a mythical guardian of its sacred sites doesn't accept being exploited. Emma and her new and lasting love, wine grower and fellow pilot Michael, survive where the project doesn't.