She was a traumatized little girl during the Nazi-occupation of Amsterdam, but she is now a teenager with audacious dreams. She still has flashbacks, but she is smart, she swims fast, and she has definite opinions about the kind of woman she intends to be.

“Intentions are like prayers; you send them out into the universe and if you pay attention they return as destiny,” her mother says.

The year is 1951. Her parents have migrated the family to Australia where she learns about belonging and Aussie sportsmanship.

Missing Amsterdam, she is guided by her father with whom she shares a curiosity for the mysteries of nature, to locate the Southern Cross in the alien sky. She has a spiritual connection with the timelessness of this ancient Australian land. Her desire for independence leads to a fulltime job as stenographer at age 15. She endures sexual harassment and abuse. She becomes a state swimming champion and breaks an Olympic swimmer’s State record that leads to hopes for the Olympics. But when her hopes are dashed as she deals with menstrual problems and 1950s medical misogyny, she learns to turn disappointments into opportunities. Intention and serendipity land her a job at a newspaper where she finds her identity beyond swimming. She marries the Editorial cartoonist. They move to the U.S. But her work to be the woman she intends to be is not yet done. She will discover her destiny.