While going to fish one day, Colin and Rob discover the stagecoach, which tumbled down a cliff. The only survivors are a woman and a baby. The woman, Ruth Whitney, claims that the baby is not hers, but nobody in Paterson's Ridge believes her.

Ruth is forced to make a difficult decision after she is offered a position with the Associated Press in America. Ruth's article on the founding father of Paterson's Ridge threatens to unearth a Blackwood family secret.

Matt is held responsible by an angry landowner when the government decides to take his land to dam the valley.

Montana's new horse is stolen by rustler Seb Holgate after she bests him in a shooting competition. Montana sets out after him and is joined by Kathleen.

Danni falls in love with a stranger who arrives in Paterson's Ridge. His presence seems to have an encouraging effect on all the romances in town but his gift to make others happy masks his own unhappiness.

Mr Gleeson and Kathleen travel to Mansfield to collect an old friend who has travelled from England to visit him. When their carriage skids down an embankment, they find themselves stranded and injured in the bush.

Dave Turner arrives at Emily and Colin's to claim Josh and take him back to his family. Emily is upset and Josh believes that now Emily is pregnant, she and Colin won't want him around.