This romance is set in Adelaide and the Clare Valley, using as backgrounds the art world, the Grand Prix car race and the wine industry. Italian Professor of Fine Art and viticulturist Alessandro Rossini is a visiting lecturer at Adelaide University during the build-up to the Grand Prix. Georgina is juggling forthcoming exams and the return for the big race of an unfaithful ex-friend. Their lives are changed siginificantly during and after the Grand Prix Ball, a traditional barn dance and a disastrous fire in the Clare Valley.