Elise McCredie

The story of Michelle Payne, the first female jockey to win the Melbourne Cup.

At a bustling international airport, lost people seek missed connections, while others carry heavy personal baggage. Tobias Wallace shepherds them all. Scruffy and benevolent in his hi-vis “Chaplain”-printed vest and always on call, he’ll bend rules to help passengers and workers alike – that includes Asha, a young woman hiding in the prayer room whose murky history stirs Tobias’s own deeply buried traumas. Not everybody is a fan of his methods, however: ambitious new terminal manager Mira has liability nightmare Tobias marked for redundancy. But as crises appear everywhere – overworked baggage handlers, security breaches, families torn apart and grief-stricken relatives – maybe this infuriating chaplain could be Mira’s salvation.

Seventeen talented Australian directors from diverse artistic disciplines each create a chapter of the hauntingly beautiful novel by multi award-winning author Tim Winton. The linking and overlapping stories explore the extraordinary turning points in ordinary people’s lives in a stunning portrait of a small coastal community. As characters face second thoughts and regret, relationships irretrievably alter, resolves are made or broken, and lives change direction forever.

A rich, young businessman travels to Australia with the intention of buying a 1967 Citroën DS. Once he arrives, things do not go to plan, and he must drive the DS into the outback alongside a blind young woman in order to track down its seller.

The hilarious tale of one young woman's quest to lose her virginity. She is a sexually curious, romantically frustrated bookstore clerk on a mission. Taking the advice of her friends she goes from one person to the next in her vain attempts to be deflowered. In between encounters with other people, she returns to the one person she can trust and truly relate to, her gay friend Jimmy, whose faith in love is being shake by the revelation that his boyfriend has been unfaithful.

The advocate for a young Iranian refugee held in detention. Amir Ali claims to be an Iranian student persecuted by the government but the Department of Immigration dispute his identity. When Julia meets Amir, he is severely depressed and close to deportation. Julia throws herself obsessively into Amir's case, causing friction between Julia and her husband, Peter. Julia eventually frees Amir and the young Iranian man moves in with Peter and Julia. As Julia helps Amir adjust to ordinary life, she finds herself increasingly attracted to this handsome, damaged young man. But she also starts to see the subtle cracks in Amir's story. Is he really who he claims he is? Or does he have a darker, more dangerous history?

James has served time for drowning a little boy when he was a child, although the body was never found in the river. A visit from his victim's mother upon parole sends him on a quest to find the truth. With little time and danger at every turn, James risks his freedom and his life to uncover the trail of sins that might give closure to the grieving mother.

Based on the change a rapidly growing town faces when southern developers take over.