[1] The play focuses on three Aboriginal half-sisters, who have gone their separate ways in life, and are reunited when they arrive for their mother's funeral service.
The house in which she lived was given to her by Harry Wells, a local sugar cane plantation owner, most likely, as Mae believes, to keep her quiet about his affair with her.
Mae appears to be one of the poor cases of the Stolen Generation, where children of Aboriginal descent were taken by the government to be raised in boarding homes or religious institutions.
Mai worked as a nurse, however, she became attracted to a married doctor, and tried winning his affection with gifts bought with money she stole from hospital funds.
Aside from various mentions of flings with different men, Nona often fantasises about 'The Black Prince', a handsome man that supposedly was her father that her grandmother made up.