The Valley challenges everything the Johnstones thought they knew about social status, work, race and family - but teaches them how to be themselves. For Malcolm, the new job with the Huon Council is a chance to build his idea of success: respectable job, nice house, pretty wife and two well-brought-up children. Marion, putting her past behind her, is firmly of the same mind - but can she find a way to keep her marriage without losing herself completely? Robert, desperate for his father's love, must find his own way to be the person he wants to be. Louise is shocked by the rough-and-tumble of the