[3] Source:[4] The nurses arrive in Cairo, Egypt (perhaps Ghezireh Red Cross Hospital at Gezira) from Australia and five principal characters are introduced, all depicting real protagonists.
Matron Grace Wilson, is seen as a strong leader, but kind and helpful to those under her: Sister Alice is seen to be the strongest of the four nurses; Olive the lovable larrikin; Hilda the shy, religious, uncertain New Zealander; and Elsie Shepherd, an upper-class girl who briefly hides the fact she is married to Lieutenant "Syd" Cook, son of ex-P.M. Joseph Cook.
Hilda is among those chosen to join British hospital ship HMHS Sicilia bound for Gallipoli, experiences shelling and tends some of the first casualties, working long hours.
Matron Wilson and Olive and are among the nurses sent from Cairo to the island of Lemnos to establish a forward field hospital, to care for the less severely wounded from Gallipoli.
They have no shelter and little water, limited supplies and grudging recognition from the Australian Army, as exemplified by Colonel Fiaschi, who would send all women back if he had his way.
Dysentery strikes Lemnos due to flies and lack of sanitation; Matron Jaggard dies and Olive is one of those to suffer, but refuses an offer to be evacuated.
Olive's friends Poppy and Lorna are among the nurses returning from Lemnos aboard the troopship Marquette, which is sunk by a torpedo from a German submarine.
Elsie volunteers for duty aboard ship Demosthenes taking wounded men back to Australia, where she can care for Syd, but knows she will be barred from serving overseas again.