The notoriously shy Ngāti Toa author Patricia Grace has temporarily stepped away from the blinking cursor to take on the New Zealand Transport Agency and the planned expressway that will chew into what little of her tupuna, Wiremu Te Kakakura Parata (1830's?- 1906?) whenua remains at Waikanae. Maraea Rakuraku accompanies Grace on a visit to the land that could well be taken under the Public Works Act and encounters a scenario of land alienation and history repeating itself.