The day Gough Whitlam is dismissed from office, in November of 1975, Catherine is sitting in the uni library when she hears the news over the loudspeaker. She’s incredulous, incensed.

She decides it’s time to formally join the Labor party and, shortly after, Catherine herself is elected as a local member in a harbor-side Sydney council. 

And it’s there, in the busy, chaotic world of local government, that Catherine learns how to govern, how to compromise, and how to balance her politics and personal life.