In the harsh, unforgiving landscape of the Outback, Charlie Burns is presented with an impossible proposition by local law enforcer Captain Stanley: the only way to save younger brother Mikey from the gallows is to track down and kill Arthur, his psychotic older brother. Meanwhile Captain Stanley is desperate to shield his innocent wife from the brutalities of their new surroundings, having given up their comfortable life in England. An uneasy sense of foreboding grows as each character faces a punishing moral dilemma that leads inexorably to a devastating climax.