Patrick Garrity started life unwanted and unloved as the bastard son of a female convict. Barely out of his teens, he worked to make a new life for himself in the limitless back country of New South Wales. There he met Mayrah, the native girl he bought to satisfy his passions and the woman who would change his destiny and that of an entire continent. Divided by competing cultures, they were nevertheless united by their fierce love of the land — and eventually, each other. Together they carved out an enormous empire in the great outback, and founded a new generation of Australians who would forever bear the imprint of their pride and passion.