The memoir of Raimond Gaita concerning his father Romulus who was an Eastern European refugee arriving in Australia following WWII. His mother was beautiful but mentally troubled and left and returned to the family on numerous occassions. The family lived on a farm in Victoria. The mother eventually kills herself, and Romulus, after being duped by a woman he was writing to in Europe and who he planned on bringing out as his new wife, goes into a downward spiral. Despite the inherent tragedy of their lives, the prevailing story is one of love and trust and honesty between father and son.