TO AUSTRALIA THEY CAME. Convicts, banished from England, were sent to serve out their sentences in the primitive and unforgiving headlands on Botany Bay. It was here in Sydney Town that they and their offspring braved famine and treachery to build new lives. Among the most determined was Hope Blackstock, whose very name carried the promise of a warmth and tenderness that the hardworking John Myers so desired. And yet Hope longed for something more--the passion of Cotty Starke, a man whose affections seemed destined for Charity, Hope's younger--and bolder--sister. Together, with a spirited determination to claim this rugged outback as their own, they staked out a destiny as bold as their grandest dreams... and found passion and love everlasting.