In the desert village of Wala Wala, a jailed Aboriginal is found dead in local lawman Ray Lorkin's police lock-up. In an attempt to reconcile Aboriginal traditions vs. Australian law, Lorkin allows Mannga, the father of the dead prisoner, a "pay back" to restore order. But conflict heightens when the local school teacher's wife's passionate affair with her husband's Aboriginal teacher's aide leads to sacrilege and murder.