A magnificent opal that carries a deadly curse… A great English estate that is lost and born anew… The wilds and dangers of turn-of-the-century Australia… A marriage of convenience — and secret desire… No one will tell Jessica Clavering of her past and so she grows up unaware of the dramatic forces that are now ready to shape her life.

          When she marries dashing Joss Madden, she intends to keep it a "marriage in name only." Then he takes her to Australia, where her new life really begins — and almost ends…