Along with series such as McLeod's daughters, two twisted and sea patrol, the Hallmark Channel continues its tradition of screening some of Australia's finest TV dramas with the compelling Rainshadow, starring Rachel Ward (The Thorn Birds) and Victoria Thaine (Son of the Mask).
The six-part series is set in the parched Australian farming community of Paringa, where the district vet, Kate McDonald (Ward, pictured), is battling to keep her community afloat in the face of a relentless drought. Forced by necessity, Kate hires a new veterinary assistant, Jill Blake (Thaine).
Kate is cranky, difficult to get along with, and has gone through a string of assistants. Jill is her last chance of getting the help she needs. Feisty, defiant and with a passion for the truth, Jill has set herself the task of succeeding under any conditions. Inevitably, Kate and Jill clash. However, Paringa needs the services of both of them, and somehow these opinionated women must find some way of working together to battle against the conditions that threaten the very existence of their community. Faced with silence and suspicion, Jill discovers that the Paringa farming community has a secret that Kate and the farmers are anxious to keep hidden. Jill also becomes aware that Kate has a dark secret of her own.
The relationship between Kate and Jill lies at the heart of Rainshadow. Amid a harsh landscape of dirt, dust and dying land, the novice vet with high hopes and new ideas must struggle to understand her strange new environment and a boss who seems impossible to please.
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