Manna from Heaven

Kevin is having a recurring nightmare in which a caped, hooded figure accuses him of having failed the truth. Is it a premonition - or the effects of Phrani's eggplant curry? Meanwhile, Pearl Bay is turning to dust as a voracious insect devours wooden structures all over town, including Bob's properties, Laura's house, the pub and the courthouse.

Max finds himself the reluctant centre of a local community paper called "The Oyster" and his home is taken over by enthusiastic volunteers keen to make a contribution to the town's new publication. Unable to concentrate on writing his book, Max heads to the courtroom for some relative peace and quiet. There Bob has hauled the local pest exterminator before Laura for failing to eradicate the bug that's eating Pearl Bay.

Miranda ropes in Meredith and her phenomenal memory to help with a school project about the history of Pearl Bay. After hours of Meredith recalling each day in excruciating detail, Miranda is amazed when Meredith suddenly has a blank. A whole day where Meredith can't remember a thing. Max is intrigued by Meredith's memory loss but when he investigates further, realises the same date has the same effect on many other locals - it's missing from their memory. An old friend of Meredith's arrives in town. Mabel Pearson - now Tenzin Jetsunma - has spent many years away from Pearl Bay searching for enlightenment, exploring the meaning of life and discovering the value of truth. As Tenzin espouses the benefits of truth, the town hides a guilty secret from the past. Everyone was in on it - Meredith, Harold, Angus, Karen, Kevin, Griff ... everyone except Bob.

Those involved make a pact to keep the secret but the evidence coming out in the court case threatens to reveal the truth. How will the conspirators get Bob to drop the case against the pest exterminator? Worse still is the discovery that the secret the town is hiding is connected to Tenzin and a shipload of sacred wood. This explains the town's crumbling buildings - does it also explain the natural disasters that have plagued the town? But Tenzin is more concerned to heal a past rift with Meredith. The old friends share painful but liberating truths about Meredith's decision all those years ago to give up her daughter. Laura has to contend with Miranda's growing fascination with Tenzin's teachings, and her daughter's accusations that Laura is something of a spiritual lightweight. Laura embarks on a search for meaning in her own life. She decides the search is futile - until she discovers that much of what gives her life meaning is right under her nose.

Heather's secret about her real parents is killing her. And Tenzin's resemblance to the woman in Kevin's dreams is haunting him. Just when it looks as though the town's secret is going to be blown, Heather upstages them all by revealing who her parents really are.