Flying the Coop

Once upon a time Chris Beggs and her husband had a dream - to one day own a farm, with cows and poultry and a crisp white fence surrounding a quaint cottage. So what could possibly be wrong with fulfilling that dream 15 years later as a 38-year-old divorced mother of two?

It was love at first sight. While on a family outing with her two children Grace and Michael, ex-husband Garth and his new girlfriend Cynthia, Chris happens upon a picture of the perfect country cottage in the Healesville Real Estate Agency window. And after a heated discussion and a rash decision, she is the proud owner of a chicken farm.

Chris says goodbye to her safe city life, legal firm work, ex-wives luncheons and the house she has known for the past 18 years... and welcomes 6am egg collections, strange noises in the night, a bitter bookkeeper and a feisty llama. Her teenage daughter is bent on world domination, the tractor has a mind of its own, and the hens are named after political figures. And soon Chris realises that the least of her worries is dressing in a chicken suit and learning how to waddle.

With the enthusiastic help of her family, old friends, a new neighbour, and a stranger on the end of daily emails, can Chris succeed in making this spur of the moment decision revitalise her life, or has she put all her eggs in one basket?