Vienna, 1903: Thirty-three-year-old Marta Mueller, talented artist and natural historian, marries Bernard Schmidt and leaves for his copra plantation in German East Neuguinea (now Papua New Guinea). For Marta, who longs to travel, Bernard is an opportunity to start a new life. Far from her family, Marta must find her feet among the Australians, Samoans, Europeans and Neuguineans who mix uneasily and unconventionally in the humid and unstable environment of German-ruled Neuguinea. With the German defeat in the First World War, Australia takes possession of German Neuguinea, and Marta has to take drastic action. She finds a real, if unconventional, love and achieves more artistic success than she dreamed possible.