In a long black skirt, blouse, tie, and hat, Daisy Bates sits on a chair in the desert. She looks grim, fearsome, proud, sad, serious, very beautiful, and in every way as dangerous as a woman of her kind could be. She spends thirty years with the Aborigines in the desert, befriending them and immersing herself in their traditions. They call her "Kabbarli," meaning grandmother.

Julia Blackburn searches through diaries, letters, and yellowed photographs for the true life of Daisy Bates. The traces tell of the red monotony of the sand dunes, a brilliantly bright sky, and an angry sun that leaves dark spots on the skin. And of a remarkable woman who leaves everything behind to forge a new path.