The intemperate and unforgiving rock sentinel of Broughton Island, of the far flung sub-Antarctic Tini Heke group, pays witness one day to the arrival of a solitary tourist, of a kind. A person of near equal intemperate and craggy nature, Mitch Broughton - a distant relative of the island's European namesake, accompanied by his long time companion - a parrot of stout if not rhetorical vocabulary, stumble ashore to spend Three Days on Tini Heke. Gladys Garthportal enjoys a sip, a tipple, the occasional genteel swallow even. And with her best friend, Hilda, in tow, the two elderly chums find themselves more often than not alright on any given night. Through long and stormy Dunedin City nights, along wind-whipped streets, or while occasioning a beloved locale or another, the two find shelter within each other's company. With an unexpected friend or two collected haphazardly along the way, Glad' and Hild' find their wee southern niche broadening in ways neither of them could ever have imagined. Along the Hills and Dales - a remembrance of times spent within a timeless land. The journey of SS TeWhaka, from Scottish berth to an Edinburgh of the south, is paralleled by the intrepidly roving lineage of the Adler family.