aljaz cosini is leading a group of tourists on a raft tour down tasmanias wild franklin river when his greatest fear is realizeda tourist falls overboard an ordinary man with many regrets aljaz rises to an uncharacteristic heroism and offers his own life in trade trapped under a rapid and drowning aljaz is beset with visions both horrible and fabulous he sees couta ho the beautiful spirited woman he loved and witnesses his uncle reg having his teeth pulled and sold to pay for a rippleiron house he sees cities grow from the wild rain forest and a tree burst into flower in midwinter over his grandfathers forest grave as the entirety of tasmanian lifeflora and faunasings him home aljaz arrives at a world where dreaming reasserts its power over thinking where his family tree branches into stories of all human families stories that ground him in the land and reveal the soul history of his country