This novel, written in five parts, tells the story of Eloise - a very young Melbourne girl who went to stay with an older friend and work in Smithton Tasmania - to avoid the shame of being an unwed mother and possibility of being forced into an abortion by her own family to protect their reputation. When her son Michael was born, after a few short months, she knew that she did not have the means to keep him. And, that to take him back to Melbourne...