An idealistic Australian journalist is sent to chronicle the upheaval in 1960s Indonesia. He develops a romance with a British diplomat and plans to make his career by covering first-hand the coming revolution, only to become personally involved in the conflict. Peter Weir's political thriller, starring Mel Gibson, Sigourney Weaver, Bembol Roco and an Oscar-winning Linda Hunt in a male role.

Australian journalist Guy Hamilton travels to Indonesia to cover civil strife in 1965. There—on the eve of an attempted coup—he befriends a Chinese Australian photographer with a deep connection to and vast knowledge of the Indonesian people, and also falls in love with a British national.