The Pepper Gate is primarily the story of an ageing painter, Mallory Smith, who has recently been diagnosed with a terminal illness. Told from Mallory’s perspective and that of various women in his life, it charts his reckonings as his life ebbs away. It is also the story of the people, particularly the women, whose lives are linked to Mallory’s. These characters are not peripheral; their viewpoints are pivotal to our understanding of the emerging picture.

A feature of The Pepper Gate is the familiarity we acquire with the struggles and motivations of the accompanying players. These characters, like Mallory, are buffeted by the world. Whether their vulnerabilities arise from innocence, the burden of emotional distress or physical limitation, they are equally susceptible to the vicissitudes of an indifferent world. The roads may lead in many directions, but the travellers all have feet of clay.

The action ranges from soup kitchens on the Gold Coast to communes in Nimbin, lounge rooms in Camberwell to studios in Warrandyte. Whilst each episode is composed with humour, dignity and compassion, the cumulative effect of stringing together so much hardship is gruelling. The sorrows in The Pepper Gate are not solitary spies, and they succeed in overwhelming the eleventh hour offering of faith in the future.