Sally Duggan is coming to terms with her new status as an orphan following a plane crash that killed both her parents. She goes to live with her mother's sister Jean (The Aunt), Jean's new husband Bernard, and cousins Joshua and Jasmine. Confiding in her diary, 14-year-old Sally tells of a tough life integrating with a family that seems set against her. Describing 1950s rural New Zealand and her aunt's central North Island farm, she is first expected to ride a large and dangerously spirited horse (The Hack). Meeting the older Baz, rider and horse trainer, changes her life. After catching Bernard in a compromising situation, she gets closer to getting her own horse. She likes the idea of having a Kaimanawa horse, one of those that roam free in New Zealand's Central Plateau. Her many adventures include rescuing Joshua after a nasty fall in the bush, and getting lost in the forest, where she's finally rescued by Maori men out hunting. Then there are the Galbraiths, with new experiences for Sally as she approaches adulthood ...