Watch Picnic at Hanging Rock

Hester has grown increasingly certain that her vengeful husband is behind the disappearances and is coming after her. As she prepares to flee, the arrival of Sara's guardian provides conclusive proof of Mrs Appleyard's lies. As Hester travels to the Hanging Rock, we finally learn all that led to her demise. The haunted past she ran from, and the secret lives of the missing college girls.

French governess, Mademoiselle, is growing increasingly suspicious of Mrs Appleyard's erratic behaviour, and fears the worst when she is told that Sara was unexpectedly collected by her guardian, unseen by any other staff. As Mademoiselle searches for answers, the Sergeant travels to Melbourne to seek a last interview with Irma, and a secret vow made by the missing girls is revealed.

Hester struggles to contain mounting hysteria as aftershocks from the disappearance continue to disrupt the old order. A mysterious visitor summons memories of Hester's dark past, whilst Sara seeks escape from the college. Meanwhile, we are taken into the story of the missing girls in the months leading up to the picnic, and the dark stain of the unsolved mystery continues to spread.

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.

Hester's three star pupils and a governess have disappeared. Led by dogged Sergeant Bumpher, local men search for the missing ladies. Not a trace to be found. Faced with a mystery, the locals resort to speculation. Has something supernatural befallen the young ladies? Or has a human outrage occurred? The last person to see the girls at the Rock was aristocratic young Englishman, the Honourable Michael Fitzhubert. Mike has recently arrived in the colony, trailing a discreet hint of scandal. The revelation that he has Miranda's stocking in his pocket indicates a special fascination with the missing girl, but Mike is contemptuously dismissive of Bumpher's insinuation that his voyage to Australia was motivated by anything improper. Hester tries to contain mounting hysteria among her pupils by putting the college into lockdown. She believes the young orphan, Sara, obsessively devoted to Miranda, knows something about the disappearance. But Sara's loyalty to Miranda cannot be breached. Two strange riders were seen at the picnic ground. Are they men from Hester's past, attempting to ruin her? What is the missing governess's shocking secret revealed in an ancient letter from her estranged Hebridean father? As the days pass and the mystery remains unsolved, tensions increase to breaking point. When the search is finally abandoned, Mike feels compelled to return to Hanging Rock, where he spends a dark night with the ghosts of his own past. Then, under the searing Australian sun, he searches for redemption, joined belatedly by his uncle's coachman Albert - with whom he has forged a strong bond. Delirious Mike points up the Rock to where Albert finds one of the missing girls lying exposed to the elements. But is she dead or alive...?

In the final decade of the 19th century, Hester Appleyard - a beautiful, mysterious widow - arrives in Macedon, Australia. She pays cash for the local white elephant - a formal mansion isolated out in the bush. Here, she establishes a school for young ladies. Six years later, Appleyard College is a success. A bastion of Victorian England, ruled with an iron fist by its enigmatic headmistress. But something haunts Hester. Is it the bush - dangerous and untamed? Or is it her own secret past? Appleyard College has three star pupils. Sophisticated Irma, a Rothschild heiress. Whip-smart Marion, daughter of a High Court Justice. And rebellious tomboy Miranda, a cattle-station princess. Their friendship ignites the magical and dangerous energy of adolescence. They resist the edicts of society. Confronted by the unwelcome advances of a young soldier headed for the Boer War, Miranda impales his foot with a pitchfork, earning her headmistress's contempt for her lack of self-regard. But the girls have already convinced Hester to allow a visit to the local landmark. And so, as she punishes devoted young orphan Sara for Miranda's recklessness by keeping her back from the outing, and Miranda retaliates by showing the headmistress an unseen object which clearly reveals some unwelcome truth, on Saint Valentine's Day, 1900, the Appleyard girls and governesses go on a picnic, to Hanging Rock. And there, in the strange brooding landscape, something unthinkable happens...