In Australia, Dawn and Peter live happily with their four children beneath the shade of a huge fig tree. When Peter dies suddenly, each, in order to continue living, reacts in their own way. Eight-year-old Simone, the youngest daughter, believes her father is now living in the tree. One day, she lets Dawn in on her secret.
Little by little, Dawn recovers from her loss and finds a job. And perhaps a new love?
Life carries on, but the tree becomes invasive: its branches, roots, and even its population of frogs and bats launch an attack on the house and threaten its foundations.
Dawn no longer has a choice: she must cut down the tree.