Darcy Grant, graduate teacher, arrives in steamy Far North Queensland in the 1980's to take up his first teaching job. Struggling with the frontier lifestyle, Darcy is drawn to a mother figure at the school, Frances Russo. Through Frances, he is welcomed to Silkwood, a tiny cane-farming hamlet. The Sicilian immigrants are friendly, but wary of the southern outsider. Darcy relies on rules and order, just like in his classroom, but he finds the power of attraction is greater. He takes a dangerous path within a community where honour is defended, while his actions trigger retaliation for unfinished family business.
