A Victorian mounted trooper returns to his father's Riverina station for holidaus and his sister's wedding. He finds her apparently hating her fiancee and her parents fear her mad. Her brother turns detective to watch her and finds her friend - a middle-aged woman companion on a nearby station - to be involved in some plot with her about the wedding day. The groom's murder and the plan by his abandoned wife to implicate Alys too are revealed at the inquest. (PB)