The heat and dust become almost unbearable until one day, during a council meeting, a mysterious and gentle stranger, known only as Fluteman (John Jarratt), offers to make it rain by playing his flute; though under the condition that he be paid $1,000.
All the children believe in him, and for the next day Fluteman plays his flute in different parts of the town; hope is almost lost, until, to the towns surprise and relief, it begins to rain – only it continues to rain nonstop for four more days - then the councillors refuse to pay him until he can make it stop; and so he does.
But despite the children’s protest, the councillors still refuse to pay him, spreading doubt into the townsfolk by calling Fluteman a fraud; and that it was merely a coincidence that he happened to play his flute at the right time or maybe that he knew the rain was coming all along.
But in spite of his affliction Toby tells his school teacher, Sally Cooper (Debra Lawrence), through sign language, that he heard Fluteman and the children; and followed the sound to the hills where he saw coloured lights in a cave.
The councillors calculate that they don’t have an awful lot in the town’s funds but just enough to pay Fluteman, but the money is missing and it turns out the town’s treasurer, Clarence Quint (John Ewart), had stolen the money, in hopes of paying for a long desired holiday in Singapore, and had given it to his stuttering partner, Oswald Snaith (Michael Caton), to keep hidden.