Katie Raven lives in a small town in New Zealand in the 1870s. She and her brother are unhappy. Their father wants Sammy to work in the sawmill he owns when he leaves school, and Katie's mother needs her at home. Katie isn't sure what she wants, but she is angry and unsettled with her parents, her brother and the hunters who stalk animals in the forest each year.
As the time approaches for the annual hunting event, Katie fears for the lives of the wallabies, and in particular, her pet wallaby Ebbie. A travelling show arrives in town, and curious about their life, Katie befriends Mary. Together they learn about the difficulties of adolescence and the different challenges in each of their lives.
Then Sammy disappears, the hunters begin to arrive, and the tension between the travelling group and the town's people mounts. While the show is on, someone comes in yelling: "The forest is on fire!" The town's people and the visitors must now band together to help each other as the fire burns through houses, caravans and the forest.
Katie realises that for the moment, she must stay in this little town and help to rebuild it. Her journey is to unfold the future, making it the way she wanted it. Sammy was journeying physically, she would journey through her mind. Who could say which one of them would find happiness first?
