‘Sometimes I feel like I’m neither one thing nor another. I live in the Mallee but I don’t like the desert. I live on a farm but I get hay fever and I’m scared of goats. I like school but my best mates don’t.’

Sandy Douglas knows that life at fifteen is hard, but it’s even harder when your mother died a year ago and nothing’s gone right since. His brother Red is eighteen now and working the farm. He’s amped up on rage, always looking for a fight.  And then there’s their dad Tom. He does his best, but – really – he doesn’t have a clue. As Sandy and Red deal with girls and dirt-biking and friends and footy, both boys have to work out who they want to be. The Mallee may seem like the middle of nowhere, but it turns out this is going to be one hell of a year.