It is 1974 and Fiona Beaumont is escaping from a failed relationship and a career in the art world that has stalled. She makes a spur of the moment decision to change direction and interacts with two generations from two very different families. The Mitchells, a service family who are constantly on the move, end up in Munich in Germany where Deutronics, a multi national electronics corporation, provides them with a lifestyle of which they could hardly have dreamed. The Robertsons from the western districts of Victoria have farmed at Casterton for four generations but their landholding future is uncertain as their only son, Tim, has a prodigious artistic talent and seems destined not to be a farmer following in his father's footsteps.

Then there is Jeremy, a "golden boy", the Mitchells' eldest son whose sexual dawning, desires, and denials cause him to discover a different self. He wants to "bite off big chunks of life, chew them up, and spit out the distasteful bits".

Slowly creeping into the consciousness of Tim, Fiona, and Jeremy is the influence of a 16th century Italian painter called Caravaggio. For all its participants life has it crossroads and culs-de-sac, some get left behind, but most go on to foster a new generation of players.