Wake in Fright

John Grant signs a government two-year teaching bond to a remote outback post in Tiboonda, feeling resentful about the terms. He hopes to visit his girlfriend Robyn in Sydney during the Christmas holidays, but his first step is to travel to Bundanyabba to catch a Sydney-bound flight.

During the Christmas holidays, John travels by train toward Bundanyabba, the rough mining town where his flight to Sydney will depart. The stopover exposes him to The Yabba's heat and its locals, marking his first real immersion in the town.

John arrives in The Yabba and visits a pub where he meets the local policeman Jock Crawford. They share drinks and attend an ANZAC memorial service at an RSL club, where John is introduced to the illegal game of two-up.

Trying his luck at two-up, John experiences a winning streak that quickly turns reckless. He squanders his cash in two rounds and finds himself stranded in The Yabba with no money, facing the desert heat and the town's rough locals.

John befriends Tim Hynes and is introduced to Tim's daughter Janette and his friends Dick and Joe. They host him for an all-day drinking session that binds him to the town's rough social circle.

Janette quietly pursues John, trying to seduce him, while John feels a mix of curiosity and disgust. He eventually regurgitates from the heavy drinking, signaling his discomfort with the debauched atmosphere.

John seeks refuge in the isolated shack of Clarence Doc Tydon. Doc treats his hangover, serves kangaroo meat, and explains his cynicism about civilization and his own failed opportunities in Sydney.

A drunken hunt with Dick, Joe, and Doc leads to violence and chaos as Joe fights a kangaroo and John kills another. They later vandalize a bush pub, while Doc interrupts John’s existential lecture about civilization.

At dawn, John returns to Doc's shack where Doc pursues an apparent homosexual encounter. Disgusted, John leaves and returns to town.

Back in town, Crawford returns John's two suitcases to him, and John discards the one containing textbooks like Plato. He begins wandering the desert toward Sydney, hitchhiking where possible.

John travels the outback, hitchhiking along the road, scavenging with his rifle, and hoping for a ride to Sydney. He reaches a truck stop and believes a driver is heading to Sydney, but miscommunication brings him back toward The Yabba.

Enraged and isolated, John hurries to Doc's cabin intending to shoot him. Overwhelmed by loneliness, he turns the rifle on himself and shoots, though Doc arrives and witnesses the act. He survives and is treated in hospital.

Weeks later, Doc escorts John to the railway station, and they reconcile. John, now steadier and less contemptuous of the outback, accepts a beer from fellow travelers and returns to Tiboonda to begin the new school year.