Bram Deagan dreams of bringing his family from Ireland to join him in Australia, where he now runs a successful trading business. But when a typhus epidemic strikes Ireland, it leaves the Deagan family decimated. And, with other family members scattered round the world, it is left to Maura Deagan to look after her orphaned nieces and nephew. Forced to abandon her own ambitions, and unsure whether she is ready to become a mother to three young children, Maura makes a drastic decision: to join Bram in far-away Australia. They set sail on the SS Delta, anxious for their futures. It is only when a storm throws Maura and fellow passenger Hugh Beaufort together that she realises this journey may also give her a chance to pursue a dream she set aside long ago: to have a family of her own. That is, until someone from Hugh's past threatens to jeopardise everything . . .