Follow the stories of two families living at opposite ends of the freeway. Bess Denyar is a doctor with a posh mother, Margaret, an architect husband, Danny Bright, and twin 13-year-olds at a private school, Oscar and Edwina. When Bess finds out that she is adopted, she is stunned, but even more so when she meets her birth parents, Wayne and Julie Wheeler. She also discovers that she has three siblings: Amber, Kayne and Brianna. The bogan Wheelers head up a drag racing team in the outer suburbs and are thrilled to discover the daughter they thought they had lost.

At the heart of this true story is Damien Oliver, a young jockey who loses his only brother in a tragic racing accident, hauntingly reflecting of the way their father died 27 years earlier. After suffering through a series of discouraging defeats, Damien teams with Irish trainer Dermot Weld, and triumphs at the 2002 Melbourne Cup in one of the most thrilling finales in sporting history.