It is based on Colonel Peter Egerton-Warburton's and Ernest Giles' accounts of their journeys across the deserts of Western Australia, and was also inspired by the search launched by Lady Franklin when her husband Sir John Franklin was reported lost in the Northwest Passage.

The story begins in the United States, where the heroine, Mistress Branican, suffers a mental breakdown after the death by drowning of her young son.

On recovering, she learns that her husband, Captain Branican, has been reported lost at sea.

Having acquired a fortune, she is able to launch an expedition to search for her husband, who she is convinced is still alive.

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