In a stark prologue set in Tasmania during the 1800s, Alexander Pearce, the convict famously known as "the Pieman," has slipped into the wilderness while policemen with dogs close in. A tense confrontation unfolds as a policeman aims and the gun fails to fire; Pearce retaliates by sinking a large bite into the officer’s neck, sealing his escape. In a brutal moment of survival, he comes face-to-face with a Tasmanian tiger and, to sate the predator, tosses a piece of the fallen officer toward it, a grim reminder of the merciless frontier he is fleeing.
Fast forward to the present day, the narrative threads converge on Nina planning a trip with her boyfriend Matt to Tasmania in search of the long-thought-extinct Tasmanian tiger. Her quest is spurred by a paw print found in a remote part of the island by her older sister, whose mysterious death in the Pieman River years earlier casts a chilling shadow over the expedition. To help fund the journey, Jack and his girlfriend Rebecca join the group, bringing a mix of curiosity and unease to the adventure.
Upon arrival, the uneasy atmosphere is amplified by a disturbing encounter on the boat: a small girl with yellow-tinted teeth recites a rhyme and suddenly bites Matt on the hand, a sign that the locals and the landscape here harbor secrets far beyond a simple treasure hunt. The group checks into a dingy motel adjacent to a meat pie factory, where they encounter a cast of eccentric and unnerving locals who set the tone for an increasingly claustrophobic night.
The next day, a river trip into the forest offers fleeting glimpses of the elusive Tasmanian tiger. Nina rushes to photograph the creature for her research, hoping to prove its continued existence, but the animal vanishes into the brush. The tension deepens as the group uses their phone lights to push further into the dark, determined to capture proof. In a harrowing turn, Rebecca is captured and eaten by a cannibal, a brutal revelation that fractures the group’s sense of safety. When the others realize Rebecca is missing and see blood on Nina's pant legs, panic spreads through the camp of outsiders.
Desperation drives a dangerous search through the wilderness. The ferryman attempts to aid them but is murdered by one of the cannibals. At an abandoned mining site, they discover Rebecca’s remains, gruesomely hung on meat-hooks, and Jack is killed by a deadly trap set by the same nocturnal predators. Matt flees underground, uncovering grisly evidence of the cannibal’s past exploits, while Nina presses on, her resolve hardening in the face of escalating horror.
That night, Nina reaches a towering railway bridge over a fast-flowing river and is cornered by a pair of cannibals. In a desperate act, she throws herself from the high bridge. The ferryman’s wife intervenes, killing one cannibal and then taking her own life, offering a bitter, tragic moment as Matt watches in disbelief. The police arrive at the hotel later, but there is no sign of the missing trio, leaving a trail of unanswered questions in their wake.
Back at the cabin, Matt experiences a brutal twist of fate and is left paralyzed in a chair as a cannibal explains that their settlement, like the Tasmanian tiger, must remain hidden to survive. The door to a grim chamber is opened, revealing a still-living Nina tied to a table, about to be raped for breeding purposes. The scene is interrupted by a chilling personal twist: the young girl who turns out to be Nina’s niece approaches Matt, removes a set of dentures, and reveals a second, sharp, deformed set of teeth. As the police drive away, Nina’s mobile phone—carried by Matt—glitches to life, displaying a photo of the Tasmanian Tiger, a haunting reminder that the truth about the wilderness is still out there, waiting to be proven or concealed.
