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Laura Gibson is at work contesting a case in the city when her son, Rupert shows up but Laura is too busy to spend time with her son so as she is running around the office, she gets someone to take him home.
Laura is having lunch with a fellow employee when she is told of a vacant Magistrate's job in Pearl Bay, a little town outside of Port Deakin. She reminisces of a holiday once spent there with her two kids and Jack (her husband)
While still racing around at work Jack leaves Laura a frantic message on their machine which Laura neglects to answer because she comes home late from work and finds Rupert still awake.

After a horrific start to the next day, stepping oh the family cat, realising it will be expensive to fix her, finding out her son has been expelled and her husband Jack was arrested for fraud, things go from bad to worse when she looses a job opportunity of a life time.

In a frenzied state Laura runs to her sister for comfort only to end up in a fight with her when she discovers that her sister and Jack have been having an affair. Well all this sends Laura into a tailspin and what can only be described as a mid-life crisis when she decides to quit her job, uproot her daughter Miranda and son Rupert and become the new Magistrate of Pearl Bay.

Laura calls Pearl Bays local real estate agent, the town pig Bob Jelly (John Howard) who swindles her when she purchases a house overlooking the ocean. The same house she and Jack stayed in on there holiday a couple of years earlier.

On the way to Pearl Bay, Laura encounters the Bridge joining Pearl Bay to Port Deakin which has been closed due to damage cause by several natural disasters (which Pearl Bay is known for having). When she pulls over she asks for directions from a Local, Daniel "Diver Dan" Della Bosca (David Wenham) who shows her the way around the Bridge.

After her arrival, Laura discovers that she has bought a dump in a caravan park after buying the house 'sight unseen.' She is fuming when she confronts Bob Jelly about their business transaction. Realising that she is stuck with her seaside shanty, Laura takes her frustration and makes it a positive by cleaning up the house and making it look new again.