Alex had always been fascinated by Australia, and went out there from England to get a job as a nurse — a fascinating job, in a lumber camp not far from Adelaide. And there she met — and crossed swords with — the autocratic boss of the camp,

Grant Mitchell, who told her, ‘There's no padding around in this job, Miss Leighton. Just dust and drought and a twenty-four-hour day.’ She would show him she wasn’t afraid of hard work — or of him! Things looked up considerably, fortunately, when she met the friendly, attractive local doctor, Lloyd Downing, and a growing friendship developed between them. Yet somehow, somewhere, Alex was aware of a curious feeling of emptiness — an unsatisfied feeling. Why should she feel like that?