Jack Willis (Hugh Jackman) is a truck driver who travels the roads of the dusty Australian outback. He is also the author of the romantic novel called A Bird in the Hand. Find that surprising? Well that is exactly the reaction that he fears which is why he chooses to use the name of his best friend, Ruby Vale, as a pseudonym. The tomboyish Ruby (Claudia Karvan) is however, is not much more convincing in the role of romantic novelist.

She is the local crop-dusting pilot and owner of the only café in town, the Boomerang Café. When the novel becomes a huge success, however, Jack convinces Ruby to play along with the charade. Ruby sets off for Sydney, with Jack as her manager, pretending to be the author of a book she has never read.

She cannot refuse the offer however, when the publicist promises to pay for her wedding to the local vet Hamish (Andrew Gilbert). The romantic turmoil of Jack’s book becomes a reality as Ruby begins to find the handsome Jack Willis significantly more appealing than her stuffy fiance while at the same time Jack is making futile attempts to avoid the romantic advances of his publicist Ziggy.