MacAlpine is a light adventure/romance set against a rich background of newspaper journalism and the cattle and sugar cane industries in tropical Queensland, Australia. Journalist Kathryn MacAlpine grew up on Thalia station, a sprawling coastal cattle and cane property now in the grip of a crippling drought. After a successful career in HongKong and the UK she returns to the country newspaper once owned by her mother's family. She is torn between station life and her newspaper career. A world scoop locks her into newspapers where she finds success, the answers to family secrets, a way to save Thalia, and romance.