The protagonist, Sybylla Melvyn, is a spirited and imaginative young woman growing up in the challenging rural landscape of Australia during the 1890s. As drought conditions and a series of unwise financial choices plunge her family into subsistence living, Sybylla’s father succumbs to excessive drinking, leaving her to navigate the drudgery of her everyday existence. However, her fortunes take a slight turn when she is sent to stay with her grandmother, where the environment is notably more pleasant.

While on her grandmother’s property, she encounters the affluent Harry Beecham, who professes his love for her and proposes marriage. Yet, burdened by her feelings of ugliness and her tomboyish demeanor, Sybylla struggles to accept that he could genuinely care for her. Complications arise as her father’s alcoholism leads the family deeper into debt, forcing Sybylla into the role of a governess and housekeeper for a neighbor—a crude man to whom her father owes money.

As she adjusts to this new life, the challenges become almost tolerable, but relief comes once more when she is sent back home to distance her from her boorish employer’s son, who has developed feelings for her. Ironically, as she lacks property, she is deemed an unsuitable match for him.

When Harry Beecham returns to rekindle his proposal, Sybylla decides that marriage would only lead to his unhappiness and chooses to send him away. Resolute, she sets her sights on becoming a writer instead. The film concludes by echoing the suggestion made at the outset—that this entire narrative is rooted in her first book, as we witness her placing the manuscript into a mailbox outside her family’s dilapidated home. This poignant moment hints at the beginning of her Brilliant Career and how it all took shape.