The Black Opal is a tender story of the highs and lows of a close-knit community of opal-miners. The men and women of Fallen Star Ridge - Potch, Michael, Sophie, and Snow-Shoes - love their land and cherish their freedom. But then a wealthy buyer arrives in town with an offer seemingly too lucrative to refuse and they are tempted to relinquish their independence.Though bound by a promise to her mother to never leave the Ridge, Sophie departs for New York, only to find that she can't stay away from her home. Throughout the novel, the irrepressible love she bears for her ill-matched soul mate, Arthur Henty, threatens to overturn both their lives.