1836. As the world stands on the cusp of a new Victorian era, the liberated Clarissa FitzRoy travels to the colony of South Australia to confront the new Surveyor General, Colonel William Light, about her past. Seeking information about her family in India, Clarissa's arrival in Australia disturbs Light, a man with his own repressed history who is haunted by his rejection of Clarissa years before. Over the course of several days on the rugged Australian coast, old sins are brought out of the shadows and it becomes clear that Clarissa herself is holding one final secret.