For three young friends it had been the most golden of summers. But the fire on Snake Mountain, spawned on a moonless night by a single shaft of lightning, was to burn a brand upon all their lives.

After a tragic death for which she holds herself accountable teacher Julia Bishop is forced to choose between the two men she loves. The one she spurns embarks on a dark journey to the heart of human suffering. Reckless of a life he no longer values, war photographer Connor Ford finds fame but never happiness, until another fateful day when he must walk through fire once more - for Julia, her child and all he holds dear.