Set in 1930's, The Fire Portrait starts with an epic relocation from England to a hamlet in South Africa and offers insights in art and the rural community.

When Englishwoman Frances McDonald sets up home in a remote hamlet in South Africa in the 1930s, she is regarded with suspicion by the local community. Confined by a marriage of convenience, she seeks an outlet by learning the language, teaching art, and exhibiting her paintings of the stunning veld landscape. Soon the spectre of war threatens to divide not only the country but the town itself - and scupper Frances' hard-won acceptance. When she reunites unexpectedly with a former love and her husband leaves to fight for the Allies, she gains a child but loses her home in a moment that will change her life and send her on a journey from the arid veld to the bright lights of London and beyond.