It's January 1974, and a devastating flood is about to change the lives of four generations of women. Maggie Rowe is thirty-five, a teacher, and still living with her mother, Vera, in a tiny cottage in Hill Street, Brisbane. Next door lives Donna Birtles, a feckless twenty-something single mum, and her little daughter, Flower. Early one rain-drenched morning at the height of the flood, Donna and Flower seek shelter with Maggie and Vera. However, once the water recedes, Donna seems reluctant to move out, particularly when she meets Roddy, a casual worker on the clean-up gang. With Donna now disappearing for months on end, Maggie is forced to take on the role of Flower's guardian at the expense of her own hopes and longings. Flower is the daughter Maggie never had. And she's the daughter Donna had but didn't want. So when Donna finally returns to reclaim her child, who has the right to be Flower's mother? Mother and child -- Fiction. | Floods -- Queensland -- Brisbane -- Fiction. | Women -- Queensland -- Brisbane -- Fiction. | Australian fiction. | Mother and child -- Queensland -- Brisbane -- Fiction. | Brisbane (Qld.) -- Fiction. | Australian