Louisa Atherton lives a pampered life until the day her husband Jack dies of a heart-attack in the arms of another woman leaving her bankrupt and giving her no option but to move with her daughter Holly to her childhood home of Rainbow's End and her prickly mother Minna

Louisa sets about getting a job but doesn't find them easy to come by and has to accept cleaning jobs to get her through until she finally gets a job as a photographer at the weekly paper.

Louisa's son Shannon arrives in Rainbow's End and soon it becomes known that he is has been suspended from his football team and owes 20,000 dollars. Marty and his team of builders demand the rest of the payment but Louisa gives Shannon the 20,000 out of Marty's payment prompting Marty to walk off site.

A destructive possum creates havoc in Louisa's roof but leads to a discovery about Mary Kelly. Wendy fires Deb from her job at the paper, and Louisa worries how Deb is going to survive without the job. Hope finally finds the courage to scatter her father's ashes and Louisa fires Marty after her newly constructed roof falls in.

Louisa sets about trying to fix up her house, with only Holly's help, but a disastrous rainfall puts paid to that. As she's about to give up she hasn't banked on the helpfulness of the community of Rainbow's End. Everyone comes together and they fix up the house in no time

With the shack up for sale, Louisa prepares to return to Melbourne. But as she puts her affairs in order, she confronts the fact that her mother is growing older, her daughter doesn't want to move, and the townsfolk have become dear to her.