On 13 November 1990, David Gray, an unemployed man in his 30s, lives with his parents in a small holiday home in Aramoana. He cycles into town and, over a minor dispute with bank staff, reveals a volatile anger. He returns home and retrieves a cache of firearms, setting the stage for a day that will shatter a community.
Late in the afternoon, Gray spots children from a neighboring house wandering into his yard and unleashes a furious tirade directed at them, sparking a heated confrontation with their father, Garry Holden. Gray retreats inside, but quickly re-emerges armed with a rifle and shoots Holden dead. Holden’s two young daughters, Chiquita and Jasmine, along with Julie-Anne’s adopted daughter Rewa, witness the murder and flee into Holden’s house, seeking a place to hide.
Chiquita, wounded but determined, crawls out to seek help for Jasmine and Rewa, whose deaths occur off-screen. She reaches Julie-Anne, and the two of them climb into a van and drive toward the scene, intent on rescuing the other girls, only to discover Holden’s house has been set ablaze. Julie-Anne Cathy Tyson is then forced to drive to safety as Gray fires at her vehicle.
Nearby residents hear the gunfire and see the smoke, yet they struggle to grasp the full scale of what is unfolding. Gray enters a nearby house and kills the two male occupants inside. Eva Dickson, an elderly widow who recently had hip surgery, ventures out with her walking frame to see what is happening and is joined by a neighbour, Chris Cole. Earlier, Eva’s middle-aged son James had left home in search of their dog. An unseen Gray opens fire, wounding Cole and narrowly missing Dickson. Dickson crawls back into her house to phone the police, then returns to Cole to tell him that help is coming (Cole later dies from his injuries).
A utility bus carrying six people, including three children, drives up from the nearby beach and stops near the burning house. Gray emerges and opens fire. The ensuing shootings are not shown on screen; the audience experiences only the sounds and the expressions of horror on nearby witnesses.
The first police on the scene—Sgt Stewart Guthrie, Constable Nick Harvey and Detective Paul Knox—arrive to find bodies in and around the utility and a badly wounded woman. They attempt to surround Gray’s house, but he surprises Guthrie from behind and shoots him dead. Harvey, armed with a rifle, hesitates and misses his chance. Knox reaches the utility to discover Stacey Percy, a 3-year-old girl severely wounded but conscious; he and Harvey carry Stacey to paramedics and transport the bodies of the other two children away from the scene.
Eva Dickson remains in her kitchen, speaking with police by phone. Her dog returns, stained with the blood of her son James (his death occurring off-screen). The police seal off the town, residents retreat to their homes for a frightened night, and Gray remains at large, eventually spending the night inside a crib in Eva’s house.
The next day, a heavy police presence surrounds the town. Armed Offenders Squad (AOS) officers locate the crib and surround Gray’s house. After a brief exchange of gunfire, they fire tear gas into the building. Gray bursts out, screaming obscenities and firing from the hip. The waiting officers return fire, wounding him multiple times, and he collapses. The AOS personnel restrain him and wait nearby as he dies from his wounds.
A postscript montage follows: the full AOS squad escort Eva Dickson from her home in a sign of respect for her bravery; Chiquita Holden and Stacey Percy recover in hospital; the deliberate torching of Gray’s house occurs several days later; and a list appears naming the 13 people who died on 13 November.
