After falling from a train in a small town in the Australian outback, Mac, a strong-willed young man, meets Lily, the daughter of the local butcher and decides to stay. A mean trick played by a rival suitor leads to Mac being bundled out of town. On returning six years later, he finds that Lily has married his old friend Jim Muldoon. His own marriage to showgirl Marge has failed and left him with nothing but his stubborn and wilful daughter Buster... his Shiralee.