The valley is calm, quiet, waiting. Mrs Henderson thinks it's earthquake weather but she doesn't say anything, doesn't want to make a fuss. It's probably nothing. No one else notices it's quiet, too quiet, until everyone does at the same moment, like at a party when everything goes quiet and no one wants to be the first to speak. All the birds are airborne, and the whole valley holds its breath. In post-earthquake suburbia everyone is just trying to survive - grow some veggies, avoid being evicted, keep up with the local goss. Meanwhile a specialist in birdsong arrives hoping to conduct research in the surrounding hills. His project is regarded with ire or indifference by all except for Timothy, a weird loner living in the bush, whose speech is odd and behaviour odder.