John Grant: a young, middle-class schoolteacher, disgruntled because of the onerous terms of a financial bond that he signed with the government in return for receiving a tertiary education. The bond has forced him to accept a two-year post at a tiny school at Tiboonda, a remote township in the arid outback. It is the start of the Christmas holidays, and John plans on going to Sydney to see his girlfriend Robyn, but first he must travel by train to the nearby mining town of Bundanyabba, a rough outback mining town, in order to catch a Sydney-bound flight. A gambling den could be John’s way out of his financial bond – instead it’s the beginning of a nightmare of bestiality, perversions, drinking and hunting.