Set sometime in the not-too-distant future, after the worldwide crisis of 2020, Mandy is a 17-year-old Filipino Australian. In her final year of high school and dealing with her parents impending divorce, she navigates a world driven by a new normal of isolation and fear. Added to this she has a crush on her tutor Serena. Meanwhile, a young girl from the backstreets of Manila tells her story.
After a civil war erupts, killing her entire family, 16-year-old Shade escapes to Australia on a refugee boat helmed by the captain of a people smuggling ring. The boat becomes lost at sea and, out of fuel, food and water, the refugees begin to die until a handful of them manage to land in an isolated part of Australia. Lost, desperate and fighting between themselves, only Shade, the captain and a young Rohingya refugee girl named Maiya are left alive to find civilisation and make Australia their new home.
On the verge of committing suicide after being brutally raped by thugs, Nina is persuaded by Ares, her psychotic step brother to track down the thugs and torture them. During their revenge mission, Nina and Ares encounter Trevor Moretti, a rogue cop who helps their cause; Albert Pike, a homophobic multi millionaire; and Freddie Ramone, a priest with dark past.
A poet falls in love with an art student, who gravitates to his bohemian lifestyle — and his love of heroin. Hooked as much on one another as they are on the drug, their relationship alternates between states of oblivion, self-destruction, and despair.