A massive Snowy Authority hydroelectric project changes the Logans' lives.

It is 1951 and the Scheme is still in the planning stages but the small township of Cooma is beginning to attract new arrivals and sooner or later, they all find their way to Mick's Café. Molly and Jack's daughter Kate returns home from Sydney unexpectedly and catches the eye of engineer Gordon King. School teacher Lilian Anderson arrives in Cooma and makes an immediate impression on Michael. East German refugees Wolfie and Eva get married before he and Max leave for Australia to work on the project. Eva will have to wait two years to join them.©tz

A new policeman, Bernie O'Donnell arrives in Cooma prepared to stamp out the ethnic tension that is causing fights in the camps. Lilian shows a special interest in Michael's writing ability and the first meeting between Wolfie and Michael is not an auspicious beginning.

Rebellious and full of mischief, Wolfie has a big influence over Michael. Jack and Molly are concerned about their son's new-found friendship. Their fears are realised when Bernie informs them Wolfie has been charged with assaulting a young local girl.

Wolfie encourages Michael's infatuation with Lilian, his teacher, while Stuart has a falling out with Alf. At the camp, serious accusations are made against Max who faces deportation by the authorities — and even harsher treatment from his workmates who suffered under the Germans during the war.

A developing friendship between Wolfie and Kate makes everyone uneasy. The Snowy is beginning to reveal its ugly side with gamblers in the camps and cattle thieves in the mountains — events which combine to provide Stuart with a fateful opportunity to exact vengeance for the death of his sons.

As Bernie tries to piece together the events surrounding the shooting, Wolfie lies in a coma from which he may not recover.aa Michael is devastated when the truth behind Wolfie's shooting is finally revealed and Lilian, herself alienated by small town attitudes, reaches out to comfort him.