The letter from the bank is the last straw. William Blay sells his farm before it's repossessed and absconds with his wife Margaret and three daughters to Port Phillip. But life in the new colony is dogged by the same dramas that hounded William in Van Diemen's Land. A new start is not as easy as it seemed.

Making the heartbreaking decision to have her husband admitted to the insane asylum, Margaret Blay finds a way to feed her children and pay the rent. But at what cost?

Can William Blay's children move on from the stain of their father's insanity, and succeed where he failed?