Set during the occupation of the Channel Islands during World War II. The story shows how Island life changed overnight after a German invasion. Islanders were restricted to walking and cycling, town names were changed to German names, clocks were set to continental time, and no society could meet without the permission of German High Command. The focus is on three families, the Dorrs, the Jonases and the Mahys, as they struggle on with day to day life under the restrictive new system.
When her father is hanged for shooting his wife and her lover, half-breed Pearl Chavez goes to live with distant relatives in Texas. Welcomed by Laura Belle and her elder lawyer son Jesse, she meets with hostility from the ranch-owner himself, wheelchair-bound Senator Jackson McCanles, and with lustful interest from womanising, unruly younger son Lewt. Almost at once, already existing family tensions are exacerbated by her presence and the way she is physically drawn to Lewt.
After surviving a violent encounter, renowned pianist, Amber Waltz, relocates to a rural farmhouse to complete her latest symphony. When the music mysteriously begins writing itself, Amber slowly discovers that this piece could be her last.
Two misfit brothers hustle cash and chase dreams in the desert. When a mysterious woman threatens to repo their beloved houseboat the brothers cook up an epic con to finally leave their dusty town and sail off on a beam of sunshine to California.
