Abigail lives in Sydney. She watches children play 'Beatie Bow' - a frightening but compulsive game. She follows a strange girl who watches but never joins in. Suddenly Abigail is nearly run over by a Victorian cab. Unwittingly she has gone back in time, to 1873. Why? What is the Gift? Why can she not return to her own time until she has preserved its powers for future generations?.