The smell of smoke and Lost River is enveloped in an eerie haze. Newcomer to the town, Lill, is anxious. Her husband Perry is at work and she is out alone on their 25-hectare once weekender. She doesn’t know how far away the fire is and doesn’t want to look a fool by calling for help. Finally a neighbour visits Lill’s house and re-assures her that the fire is 15km away and has been brought under control.

But that night, Lill can’t sleep. She gets up and follows the glow of the distant fire. Eventually finding it beside the road north of town, she watches the amazing firies in action. Lill realises that belonging and surviving in this community means belonging to the RFS.

The community of Lost River needs volunteers, the small town heroes without whom so many country towns would wither and die.

There’s the captain, “Backa” Burke, everybody’s mate. There’s Joey, Mr Responsibility, with a serious demeanour that belies his youth. There’s Joey’s gorgeous girlfriend Fifi, a member of the notorious Sharp family, a family who knows no fear. There’s the equipment officer, silent Eris with the angelic singing voice. There’s lads and lasses and blokes in their 50s.

Then Old Peg Beecher smashes her car and needs a lift to her CWA meeting, and the only one who can do it is Lill. Lill expected that being part of the community would be hard work, but she didn’t know you had to be a saint to even make a start!

Meanwhile, the fire that they thought was put out is still smouldering, and Lill’s worst nightmare comes true.

Even one bad fire can kill-but this time they’ll be fighting on two fronts.

The Fireflies continue their work to fight against the raging fire.

Lost River is in recovery from a devastating fire that nearly took the lives of some of their best firefighters and local farmers.

Perry struggles to come to terms with the loss of his home, while Lill and his daughter Taz rival for his attention.

Meanwhile tension mounts between Joey and Fifi over Fifi’s actions concerning their baby.

Luisa learns that her secret love affair with the local cop Mike, is no longer a secret. It all comes to a head when Rebekah Sharp turns up and announces that Luisa’s husband Eris was inside a fire truck engulfed by flames. Suddenly Luisa realises that a lot more people know about her affair than she thought. She rushes to be with Eris who is feeling lost and alone.

Backa is trying to deliver on his promise to be “there” for his wife Svettie, but his fire crew has been traumatised and there’s counselling to be done.

Fifi has to deal with her unpredictable brother Hank who has just returned from prison and has a different story to tell to everyone he meets. But it's Fifi he's most interested in and when he visits her at work she's again reminded of what a different person she's become since he left. Back at home the Sharp family try to welcome this free radical element as Hank tries to wheedle his way back into Fifi's life. Later that night she finds herself in an unexpected kiss with Joey. Lill and Perry are trying hard to deal with Taz, Perry's moody teenage daughter who's arrived for the holidays. She's travelled with Hank on the bus up to Lost River and has heard his stories of brutal prison life. She clashes with Lill over everything and confronts her father with her palpable distaste for her stepmother. In his Fox Cove office, Perry begins Anger Management sessions with Hank and is soon alerted to the strange pathology that consumes him. Lill prepares for the fire controlled Hazard Reduction but is unprepared for the discovery she makes when she and Svettie clean out Peg's house. Left on her own she finds a hatbox of letters that bring up a traumatic, damaging event in her own life. An argument with Taz leads to her confiding in Perry and eventually to confronting Peg. Backa struggles with the responsibilities of a dangerous burn-off and the knowledge that his deal with his Uncle Jeff may well betray his brother. Every little thing seems to go wrong on the day. Backa is left with a headache and a sinking feeling that his problems will re-emerge. It's only a matter of time.

The Lost River rodeo could be the last throw of the dice for Backa and Svettie's shop. Stocked up for their biggest annual trading day, they hope to pay off their immediate debt and avoid the bank foreclosing, but the news of fires down south keeps Backa and Svettie stretched between hope and despair. Confronted with imminent failure, Backa finally tells Svettie about his deal with Uncle Jeff - a job, a home and a future, under Uncle Jeff's roof and his control. The foretaste of disaster opens them to each other, but neither can see a happy ending for the family. Taz wants a driving lesson but Perry is busy and suggests she practice by herself on the property. After an argument, Taz drives off towards town. She returns in shock, telling Perry she has knocked over a cowboy. Perry takes control of the situation and they search for any sign of a person being run down but find only a cowboy hat. They search the rodeo ground and call the hospital - no injuries have been reported. Perry's not sure what to believe. With Backa busy at the shop, Joey, Fifi and Lill work the rodeo car park, a traditional firies' fundraiser. When the town girls ask Joey whether he is on the market, Fifi takes it as an opportunity to tease. Even Luisa revs up Joey with a bit of flirting. Joey is as confused as ever by Fifi's behaviour, until they kiss and make up. Uncle Jeff brings the bad news of fires; the roads are closed, the rodeo is cancelled and it seems like Backa and Svettie have no choice but to accept his deal or leave Lost River. But while Backa goes to the rodeo ground to tell Joey, Svettie negotiates a dangerous loan from Sharpie and convinces Backa the money has come from selling off milking machine parts stored in their shed.

In a last bid attempt to save her failing shop and keep her family together Svettie has borrowed a large amount of cash from a loan shark. But she's keeping it a secret from Backa, telling him the sudden injection of funds has come from the sale of some milking machinery stored in their back shed. Now they're on easy street, for a while at least. In a mood to celebrate Backa and Svettie have the best day they've had in months, even years! The day soon heats up toward boiling point. At the Sharp's a lazy summer barbecue descends into chaos. Eldest son Hank has returned to Lost River and he's ready to cause as much trouble as possible - especially for Fifi. Hank can't forgive the fact that his younger sister is now all grown up and responsible and pushes to find the bad girl he farewelled when he went to jail three years ago. When Rolly Patterson arrives mid-party and makes a beeline for Fifi it seems Hank might get to see the old Fifi after all. There are others for Hank to 'play' with too, in the shape of Kieran and his girlfriend Noodle and when Perry's daughter Taz turns up, it's open season... Perry and Lill arrive at the scene to pick up a distraught Taz and it leaves Perry with a sinking feeling. Is he ready to become a parent the second time around? For Lill, one of the core promises of their relationship has been broken.

It's the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, and the fourth anniversary of the death of Jeff's teenage son Damien. It's always been a long day for Jeff and today is no different as he wakes with a feeling of dread and sadness. Things only get worse when Damien's old girlfriend Fifi arrives at the house to present Jeff with Damien's battered old guitar which she's held on to for all this time. Jeff receives the guitar in bad grace and continues to alienate the remaining family he has around him - particularly Joey, who asks Jeff if he can have some cattle he has been promised. Jeff refuses his nephew's request, as always, in an attempt to control his destiny. However, with a little strategic advice and help from older brother Backa, Joey takes back what is rightly his. On a mission from hell, Jeff clashes bitterly with Svettie insisting that young Carter is sent to boarding school instead of the local Fox Cove High. But Svettie is resolute; she wants her son beside her always. Meanwhile Lill is doing her best to avoid her own relationship problems. She abandons her home for the day, seeking a bit of light relief with the Lost River firies, particularly Joey. Perry is also struggling with his relationship and takes his tension out on his P.A.

Fifi has a new job at the Fire Control Centre and Joey is already doing the maths working out what sort of property they could buy with the extra money. For now though, they’ll have to put up with living at the Sharps-with little privacy and dealing with Hank on a daily basis.

When Fifi takes a call about a factory fire, the Lost River brigade is quickly called out. Joey has just come in from a night shift on the prawn trawler but he’s determined to go straight out to fight the fire, much to Fifi’s concern. The factory is ablaze and the firies are stuck inside searching for a missing squatter and a dog. Joey is exhausted and stops for a moment too long, just as stored paint tins begin to explode. Fifi knows Joey is inside, but she is helpless on the other end of the line. The crews manage to drag themselves out, but with some bad news.

Meanwhile, Lill realises there will be no changing Perry’s mind about having children, but she is not yet ready to give up on the idea for herself. If neither compromise, where will this lead?

Things only get worse when Perry’s ex-wife, Janine, calls to say that Taz has run away from home to be with Hank. Perry and Janine revisit their roles as parents, going to the Sharps to find Taz in tears after Hank has rejected her.

Lill gets home after a long day at the factory fire to find Perry and his first family ensconced in a domestic situation-it’s all a little too close for comfort for Lill. Suddenly a night on a bunk bed down at the fire station is looking like a mighty good alternative…

Russell Newman|Peter Lamb|Helen O'Leary as Luisa, Bradley Byquar as Patto, Rhonda Doyle as Ali, Stephen Leeder as Bryce, Robert Carlton as Kevvie Holman, Mary Regan as Janine Luscombe, Karissa Lane as Skye, Andrew James as Brian Turnbull, Damian Eggleston as Attwood firie, Edmund Cinis as Carter, Keeara Byrnes as Candy

The fire front is racing into Lost River, it’s much bigger than they thought and the water pressure has failed.

The trucks are going to have to relay back and forth to the dam at Sharpie’s to refill, and when they discover that Suzie’s place is burning inside the roof, Backa has to make a difficult call. No one said fighting fires on your own doorstep was easy.

Meanwhile, Lill’s left Perry with a box and a question: “here’s somewhere to put a few precious things, just in case”, so what should he save?

Joey’s thrown into the thick of things at the Sharps, with Hank being his usual infuriating self and Sharpie way too relaxed to be much good.

Svettie knows exactly what to save-but what should she do first when she can’t leave the shop? It’s going to be a long day.

In the final hour of Fireflies, days have passed since the fires. Everyone is trying to return to normal and clean up the damage, but it’s not going to be easy.

Lill tries her hand at spinning. She has a few CWA ladies over for a spinning session-nothing more meditative or calming, until Perry arrives and shocks her with the news that he’s changed his mind.

After many arguments and tension, he has finally decided that he does want to have a baby with her. Now she really has something to meditate on while she spins her wool!

Fifi and Joey are begrudgingly living with Uncle Jeff, but they’re hoping it’s only temporary. It’s got to be temporary. Just has to be. But Joey knows that with the fires gone and their caravan burnt out, Fifi’s going to have to reconcile with her family. It’s eating her up inside, and Uncle Jeff’s icy deal making isn’t helping.

Sharpie’s just getting by. His house was saved, but now he’s got a son on the critical list in hospital, another son who wants to marry his 15-year-old girlfriend and a wife and daughter estranged from each other. Sharpie starts wondering where he went wrong.

As for Backa, he just wants to give up the captaincy as he always promised Svettie and get on with his life. The only hitch is that no new captain is coming forward. He then discovers four cases of illegal cash crop in the back shed and at last the truth comes out, layer on layer of it-Svettie’s debts, Svettie’s lies, their real financial situation, the fish-farming investments. It’d be funny if it weren’t so shocking. And Constable Mike Jones is sniffing around, dropping hints. Backa’s convinced Mike knows about the drugs.

But it’s a funny old world, as Lill realises she’s torn between the man she loves who’s promising her everything she ever wanted-and a married man who isn’t promising her anything. Maybe the secret is to see things clearly and stop fooling herself. Maybe the secret is to open her eyes and wait for the smoke to clear.