It's 1919. Corporal Joe Barlow returns from the Great War to his home in Oak Tree Place hoping only for peace and order, but this is denied him as he finds himself sole carer for this little sister Ruth and at odds with his widowed aunt who fights to have Ruth live with her.


But Joe prevails and his sense of achievement is enhanced when he surprisingly wins the affections of Lydia- beautiful, capricious and entirely out of his league.


Joe and the other residents of Oak Tree Place cope doggedly with the depressed years of early 1920s Britain but their vague discontent is suddenly pierced by the wonderful possibilities proposed by the government of Western Australia, which is offering free farms to suitable settlers.


Excitement reigns as one by one they make the decision to move to the other side of the world, where the promised farms wait beguilingly under the wide, warm sky ...


But the journey is just the beginning. Resolves will be tested, secrets will be revealed and lives will be changed forever.