Picnic at Hanging Rock

In the final decade of the 19th century, mysterious widow, Hester Appleyard, arrives in Australia, haunted by a secret past. Here, in the new world, she establishes a successful school for young ladies. But six years later, on Valentine's Day, 1900, the enigmatic headmistress allows her pupils to picnic at Hanging Rock. And there, in the strange brooding landscape, something unthinkable happens.

Hester's three star pupils and a governess have disappeared. Led by a dogged sergeant, local men search for the missing. Has something supernatural befallen them? Or has a human outrage occurred? An aristocratic young Englishman, Michael Fitzhubert, was the last person to see the girls, and when the search is abandoned, he is compelled to return to the Rock where he makes a shocking discovery.

The missing Rothschild heiress, Irma Leopold, has been found, remarkably unharmed, but claiming to remember nothing. Meanwhile, rumours spread and the sergeant turns his attention to the college. What secrets lie hidden behind the locked gates? His investigation intensifies Hester's paranoia and she grows certain that the young orphan, Sara, knows something about the disappearance.