The book discusses what the Cooks River Valley is likely to have been like as a natural landscape, and the changes that have come about in the area as a result of farming and industry. It also describes the vegetation communities that would have existed in the Cooks River catchment, including Wolli. Although the Temple Reserve site is likely to have been mud flats prior to European settlement, it is now able to support species that represent key vegetation communities of the Cooks River Valley as identified in Missing Jigsaw Pieces.