Fay lives alone with her father on bleak, windswept Breaksea Island, but her isolated life takes a dramatic turn with the outbreak of World War I. Fay collects the messages of lonely soldiers heading to the frontline. She is their last hope of getting messages telegraphed back home. After their departure for the battlefields of Egypt and Gallipoli, she follows their fortunes and continues her long-distance conversations with letters and postcards. Then one day, a single, sad telegram arrives, and the war is brought brutally home.

Based on the true story of Faye Howe, this gentle tale brings to life the hardships of those left at home during the war - waiting, wondering, hoping. Drawing on fascinating archival material, and interweaving fact with fiction, Dianne Wolfer deftly recreates this period in Australian history from the perspective of a young girl.