German Julia doesn't have a very happy life at the moment. Her mother has died and bad luck seems to be following her everywhere. Her aunt Tori, who runs a farm called Outriders in Australia for troubled teens, is only too happy to have her come and stay.
A chain of events connected to Julia's bad luck causes her father to rethink regarding the trip to Australia.
Julia arrives in Australia but the bad luck still follows. Vince, one of Tori's ""kids"" runs into some bad luck himself riding a horse called Capone. Reggie, Shane, Jake and Vince meet Julia.
When it seems an ornamental dragon is the cause of Julia's bad luck, she tries to get rid of it.
The kids discover faults in the story of a man trying to make a business deal with Tori.
The Outriders plan to foil Jansen's schemes, despite the fact he claims to be returning the microchip
Jake investigates the history of a now destroyed house and learns of a ghost called Bess Hartley. Meanwhile, Julia is feeling more at home both with Shane and in entering the Forest Cup race, a challenging horse race.
The ghost of Bess Hartley begins to haunt Jake while Reggie's tampering with a Forest map causes Julia to get lost in the bush.
After another run-in with Bess, Jake is frightened out of his skin an almost has Vince believing. Julia is furious with Reggie after the map incident.
Jake finally meets ""Bess Hartley"" while Julia and Reggie compete in the Forest Cup but an accident causes all sorts of surprises.
When the horses are becoming poisoned, the teens start an investigation.
After the kids discover a truck driver is dumping chemicals into the river and killing horses, they are determined to catch him out.
While the kids investigation of Murdoch results in some evidence, Vince's new job turns out to be a bike-stealing gang.
Vince, Reggie and Julia go searching for the missing motorbikes.
When Reggie is injured in the National Park, her rescuer, a strange woman named Rachel, disappears quickly. Jake begins caring for sick animals after someone is trapping animals around the Park.
Reggie's rescuer Rachel claims to be a sculptor but sceptics Shane and Vince figure she is the trapper and is responsible for Reggie being injured.
When Rachel is arrested for trapping, the boys are sure justice is done but Reggie isn't. Julia's friend Michael in Germany is injured.
Julia's concern for Michael intensifies while Shane is worried about where he stands. The boys agree to take the night shift in looking for the real trapper.
When Jake's belongings go missing, he is the only one worried. Setting a trap he discovers a Romanian family living in a old house and is taken hostage by them. Reggie joins a horse riding show after one of the lead stunt riders - Mel - can't make it, however this doesn't turn Vince off her.
While Jake escapes from the house, having met the thief's sister Anisa, he is sure something strange is going on. Reggie discovers she can't be in the show as she has to go to Port Macquarie with her family and estranged brother Jason who lives in the US. However she can't tell Mel and Haydn.
Julia tries to break Anisa's barrier and discover the truth while Vince is put in a tough position when Mel backs away from him since he knew about Reggie all along. Desperately, he tries to rectify the situtation. Julia discovers Anisa and Shahib are Illegal romanian immigrants and the group count down the days til Christmas
Vince manages to get Jason to come to Sydney so Reggie's horse show can go ahead. Julia is excited over a Christmas in Australia and Anisa and Shahib are reunited with their family.
Vince is excited about an upcoming meeting with his probation officer. An old friend of his, Mac, virtually homeless, convinces him to help him out. Shane gets a dumped thoroughbred horse which will be his if he can tame it and Reggie discovers Julia is going home in a week. Julia discovers something strange about Tori and her mother's friend Jessie. No-one will answer her questions
Julia closes in on the identity of Jessie while Mac brings nothing but trouble to Vince.
After days of hard work, Shane finally manages to get a saddle on Lucky. Vince gets involved in Mac's deal and realises he can get it and Mac out of the way 2 hours before his probation officer arrives, but when the time is changed, Vince realises if the deal goes wrong there'll be trouble. Julia discovers Jessie was a horse of Tori's and when Tori and Kate (Julia's mum) had an argument, Kate bet she could ride Jessie over a big jump. She failed and Jessie was put down. Julia discovered Jessie had a filly named Tempus and sets out to find it while Vince and Mac head off to the deal and Bud must tell Shane that the real owner of the horse has been found and wants it back.
Shane is upset over having to give Lucky back and Vince is depressed over the conflicting times of the deal and Mr. Miller. Julia goes to see Jessie's daughters owner to discover that, while Tempus died, her daughter Mistrel is up for sale for cheap. In the end, Vince turns the thugs in but gets Mac out of a prison sentence while Julia buys Mistrel. When Lucky's owner discovers Shane has tamed him he offers to let Shane keep Lucky at Outriders for the time being. On Julia's last day, she gives Tori Mistrel while her presents from all of them turn out to be good. Vince's probation officer sticks up for him in court but, with a deal from Tori, he decides to stay at Outriders anyway.