14-year old Reilly Evans is sent to live with his Aunt Ellen and Uncle Jonathon in Australia after his father is arrested, and his mother is admitted to an institution. After arriving in his new home, Reilly meets Aggie Thackery, a girl from London who will be living and working closely with Reilly's veterinarian aunt on a vet internship. When Reilly and Aggie arrive at the Wild Spring Animal Clinic (Ellen's workplace and home), they discover that life will be much different here down under. Not only are Ellen and Jonathon surrounded daily by exotic animals, they have no TV. Reilly doesn't take the culture shock well, and storms out of the house on a walk, but not before arguing with Aggie about their new home. During his walk, Reilly runs into Miller, an Australian boy his age who welcomes Reilly to his new home. The two boys see a girl their age on her horse ride by, and Miller explains that her name is Fiona McDaniel and she's a loner. When Reilly returns home, his aunt asks
Reilly goes through culture shock; Ellen leaves the clinic in the hands of Aggie while she leaves for the afternoon, and Aggie makes the mistake of thinking she can care for an injured animal on her own.
It's the first day of school for Reilly and Aggie, and while Aggie makes friends easily with Miranda, Reilly finds himself fighting with the school bully....over Fiona.
Miranda, Aggie's new friend, is set on throwing a party with Reilly and Aggie as the guests of honor. Reilly and Miller are raring to go, but Aggie becomes too upset to attend when the flying fox she has been nursing back to healh dies.
When a paraplegic dog that Aggie and Ellen has been caring for needs a pair of wheels to move, Miller decides that he'll help the dog: and maybe impress Aggie. When Reilly informs Aggie that Miller is helping the dog because he likes Aggie, she seems flattered - but isn't interested in Miller. At the same time, Aggie visits Fiona, and tells her that Reilly likes her. Fiona seems flattered, and maybe a little interested in Reilly.
When Fiona has to leave town after her Grandmother passes away, Reilly and Aggie volunteer to take care of the McDaniel's animals. When Aggie finds Reilly looking through Fiona's room, Reilly admits he can't stop thinking about her. Aggie takes the oppurtunity to encourage Reilly to ask Fiona on a date. At Fiona's grandmother's house, Fiona shares her hateful feelings toward her grandmother with her Mom. Ever since her grandmother tried to tear a 5-year old Fiona and her deaf mother apart, Fiona has had hateful feelings toward her....until Fiona's Mom reveals that her grandmother spent her life earning money to give to Fiona's college education and her Mom. Meanwhile, Miller, still grounded, spends his time watching romantic films to get tips on how to attract Aggie.
When Reilly recieves a letter from his father in prison, he becomes upset, which worries Aggie and Aunt Ellen. To take his mind of his father, Reilly begins taking care of a stray kitten that is dropped by the clinic, only to have to return the kitten to its owner when he finds a ""Lost Kitten"" sign. Also, Miller invites Aggie and Reilly to spend a day with him at the creek, but because Aggie is spending the day horseback riding with Fiona, only Reilly shows up. Reilly shares his thoughts about his father's letter with Miller, and the two boys end up drinking a pack of beers that Miller brought to the creek. On their way home, a drunk Reilly and Miller run into Fiona, and Reilly makes a fool of himself, telling Fiona he 'loves her' and 'wants to love in her backyard'. The next morning, Reilly, suffering from a hangover, is forced to work with Johnathan on building a deck. After their work is over, Johnathan surprises Reilly by taking him to the beach to surf. There, Reilly comes
When an 11th grader, Peter Logan, picks up his dog from the clinic, Aggie catches his eye. Peter invites Aggie to join him on his hike to a popular look-out spot, and Aggie can't be more thrilled. Meanwhile, Reilly writes a compelling story for his English class' 'true story' assignment, and wins the hearts of his female classmates, including Fiona: who gives Reilly a kiss after telling him how great his story was. Later, Aggie's date with Peter Logan ends in a kiss, and it seems as though Aggie may have her first boyfriend.
Aggie's boyfriend proves too good to be true when she finds out that his parents are racist. Meanwhile, Reilly's ready to start a relationship with Fiona, now that he knows how she feels. Or is she too busy for him?
When Aggie worries that everyone sees her as a goody-good, she plans a day with Fiona to skip school and hang out at the lake. When Reilly and Miller join the girls at the lake, it's all fun and games: until Fiona sees a brush fire in the distance. The group rushes home to help Aunt Ellen, who is already helping the neighbors save the animals they can. At the end of the day, Fiona tells Reilly she would like to go out with him, and Miller confesses to Aggie that he loves her, only to find the feelings aren't mutual.
When the friends spend a day at the county fair, Aggie finds herself judging the ""Divine Pig"" contest, and Reilly and Uncle John compete in the Father-Son Sawing contest. Meanwhile, Miller discovers that Miranda is very interested in pursuing a relationship with him.
When Reilly and Fiona find three abandoned goats, Reilly volunteers to take care of them. Soon, he finds that caring for the three animals is harder then he thought, and this leads to his first fight with Fiona after accusing her of not putting in enough effort to care for the animals. Meanwhile, Miller is nervous about inviting Miranda over to his house for dinner. Also, Aggie reveals she is concerned about being the ""odd-girl out"" when she finds the rest of her friends are pairing-off.
When Ellen and Jonathan leave for the weekend, Reilly and Aggie invite Miller and Fiona over for a night of games. The night's festivities are cut short, however, when Fiona's prized miniature horse comes down with colic. Working with Aunt Ellen over the phone, Miller is able to help Aggie save the life of the horse. By the end of the evening, the friends have settled down and are enjoying a game of cards when Reilly's mother calls from the states informing Reilly that he's coming home and was accepted at a boarding school.
Riley makes the decision to head back home to Connecticut, leaving Fiona and Miller depressed. Miller breaks up with Miranda, but soon finds an old love of his-the guitar. Aggie joins the school netball team, however she has to deal with rushing to the clinic on time. Fiona is her same old self, minus Riley of course. When Aggie finds out about the new intern, she feels like she's being invaded on her home territory, but that changes when the new intern, Tom Butler arrives. He does have a love for animals, but although he claims to have vet parents, there's a bit more to him than meets the eye...
At the Archers, Tom is welcomed comfortably, but Aggie gets suspicious of his upbringing. Are his parents really vets? Her suspicions are heightened when Tom sticks a thermometer in the wrong end of a dog-Aggie stops him in time. She confides in Miller, who takes matters in his own hands. He finds an article about Tom and the whole story comes out-his parents ARENT vets, he came to Australia to escape from his own parents, who don't care about him. Despite this, the Archers take him in and treat him like his own son
Tom Butler, a teenager from America, is an incredibly bright teen from an incredibly dysfunctional home. Tom has spent the last three years at a minimum-security cattle ranch for juvenile delinquents.