Broke and hopeless in 1929 Yo O'Keenan flees the violence of his home in Chippendale and by some miracle charms his way into a job on the Harbour Bridge a new start for himself and his little sister Agnes.

Meanwhile on the north side of Sydney in her cluttered cottage at Lavender Bay a young and ambitious costumier Olivia Greene works on her latest millinery creations dreaming of taking her colours to Paris London New York.

A random encounter in the Botanic Gardens sparks a powerful attraction even as the gulf between this pair seems wider than the blue mile of harbour that divides the city.

By mid-1932 the construction of the Bridge is complete but Sydney is in chaos on the brink of civil war as the Great Depression begins to bite - hard.

And then Yo disappears.

Against the glittering backdrop of Sydney Harbour The Blue Mile tells of the cruelties of poverty the wild gamble a city took to build a wonder of the world and the risks the truly brave will take for a chance at life.