Ulf is a small former gold-mining town in the hill country of Victoria, Australia. A young woman disappears one night, so completely that a massive search effort fails to find any trace her. Fifteen years later, Erik Portland, a retired clergyman, is challenged to seek out what happened. His research leads him into danger as someone appears to feel he might discover something he shouldn't. He travels to Melbourne where, as some characters seem inclined to say "the plot thickens." The story features hard-working Victoria Police personnel, typically fascinating small-town Australian country characters, eco-terrorists, union officials, corrupt politics, a country newspaper and its staff, all contributing to the on-going mystery of the girl's disappearance. Over all the intrigue is the loveliness of the Australian bush and its wild inhabitants.