Fran thought she'd never return to Ash Mountain but her dad has become ill, her relationship is over, and she hates her dead-end job in the city anyway. In a blistering summer, childhood memories prick at her fragile self-esteem as old friendships and rivalries are renewed and new ones forged. But the tumult of her home life is the least of her worries, because a bushfire is roaring towards Ash Mountain and the town's long-held secrets will soon be exposed in the carnage.