It was created by Andrew Knight and Deborah Cox and starred Sigrid Thornton, David Wenham, William McInnes, John Howard, Tom Long, Kevin Harrington, and Kerry Armstrong.

Laura Gibson (Sigrid Thornton), a high-flying city lawyer, is prompted to undergo a sea change with her children Miranda and Rupert after her husband is arrested for fraud and is found to have had an affair with her sister.

In one day, her life falls apart: she loses out on a partnership at work, and discovers that her husband has been arrested for fraud and that her sister Trudi (Fiona Corke) is having an affair with him.

In Pearl Bay, she meets a cast of colourful characters: Meredith Monahan, the woman who can remember every single event that has happened in town during her lifetime; Meredith's longtime lover and town lawyer/drunk, Harold; strapping surfer and court clerk Angus; his girlfriend (and would-be fiancee), police officer Karen; her superior Sergeant Grey; unsophisticated caravan park manager and handyman, Kevin; Kevin's son Trevor; clever Indian shop-keeper Phrani, later to be Kevin's lover; local layabout Griff; Meredith's niece, the wandering Carmen; corrupt and scheming real estate agent and shire president Bob Jelly; his loyal trophy wife Heather; and their children Craig and Jules.

Season 2 David Wenham opted not to renew his contract, so, two episodes into the second series, Diver Dan leaves Pearl Bay for the Galapagos Islands.

Mark Mitchell guest stars as Morton Tregonning, administrator for the recently sacked Port Deakin council, and his corruption pushes Bob to a decision; he must choose whether to help the people of Pearl Bay, or ruin them once and for all.

The final episode, "Half-Life" (Episode 39), sees the town coming together to stop Tregonning's nuclear waste dump, Miranda and Craig on trial, Laura's resignation, Karen and Angus' wedding, Meredith facing a brush with death following a stroke, Bob making a final decision about his future and spurning Tregonning, and Max and Laura's relationship resolved in a night of passion.

The series opens with Laura returning to Pearl Bay from aid work in South Africa to visit her daughter Miranda, who she finds is 8 months pregnant, after two decades.

His daughter Jules makes an appearance as a mercenary Hong-Kong based lawyer and developer, while Kevin and Phrani reconcile and marry after spending the previous five years apart.

Shakespeare's play The Tempest is a clear influence on SeaChange, exemplified by the episode titles "Something Rich and Strange" and "Full Fathom Five", and by Miranda's name, as well as frequent freak weather events.

From various accounts he is missing limbs (but is still able to drive a boat), has no teeth and has never eaten a cereal grain in his life, and tends to get drunk often and steal people's ride-on mowers.

In episode 5 of series 2, the Kevin and Trevor scene is not at the very end, and takes place at the Alfonzo Dominico Antonio Jones Memorial Pool.

Also, in episode 10 of series 3, Kevin's sister Suzie joined him to tell him that their recently-deceased father's electric guitar (which they had buried) was worth $8,000 because he had played with The Masters Apprentices for a week.