A New Zealand film looking at the underworld Maori life of Auckland. A woman is on the verge of a nervous breakdown after 18 years of marriage to her violent husband, who repeatedly beat her over the years but maintained that he loved her. The ramifications of this constant turmoil take their toll - her family starts to split as one of her sons joins a gang and the other ends up in a welfare home. The gifted daughter seems unaffected by the disfunctional family unit, but soon she encounters events that changes the family's life forever.