10 years after a global economic collapse, a hardened loner pursues the men who stole his only possession, his car. Along the way, he captures one of the thieves' brother, and the duo form an uneasy bond during the dangerous journey.
Ten years after a global economic collapse, a cold-blooded drifter traverses the scorched Australian outback on a mission to track down the men who stole his last remaining possession - his car. When he crosses paths with a badly wounded member of the gang, he takes the vulnerable, naïve young man along as his unwitting accomplice.—Anonymous
A decade after the collapse of the western world, Australia has become a lawless wasteland. As desperate outsiders pillage the country's precious mineral resources, taciturn Eric (Pearce) travels from town to town searching for signs of life. Then, one day, Eric falls prey to vicious thieves who steal his car. In the process of making their getaway, the thieves abandon Rey (Robert Pattinson), their wounded partner in crime. Meanwhile, Eric vows to reclaim his most-treasured possession by whatever means necessary, and forces Rey to help him track down the men who left him for dead..
Ten years after a global economic collapse, the Australian outback is a lawless wasteland, crime, and poverty is common and small military units patrol the outback to maintain what little law and order is left. After a robbery gone wrong, Archie (David Field), Caleb (Tawanda Manyimo), and Henry (Scoot McNairy) flee, behind Henry's injured brother Rey (Robert Pattinson). While driving away, Archie mocks Rey and Henry attacks him, causing Caleb to crash. Archie says Rey is a kid who cannot take care of himself, and hence should not be riding with the big boys. Henry is shot in the foot. When they cannot maneuver the pickup truck out of debris, Archie steals the compact car belonging to the mysterious loner Eric (Guy Pearce) who is drinking alone inside a nearby bar, looking very lonely and sad. Eric comes out of the bar when he notices that his car is being stolen. Eric manages to start their vehicle and he follows them. After a brief chase, Archie stops, and Eric confronts them and asks for his car back. When Eric tries to attack Archie, Henry knocks him unconscious with the butt of a shotgun.
Meanwhile, Rey has survived the shootout at the robbery site with the military unit. Since the soldiers are dead, he takes their Humvee and drives toward the nearest town. He is still heavily injured and bleeding from an abdominal gunshot wound.
Lying in the road, Eric wakes up and drives the pickup truck into town, where he wanders into several establishments, asking if they have seen three men in his car. He says that the men would have needed petrol as his car was almost out of gas. He goes into an opium den, where he finds a dwarf and two Chinese acrobats from a traveling circus in the back room. Eric tells the dwarf that he needs to buy a gun.
Eric follows the dwarf to his trailer, where the dwarf throws a rock at his chained, defenseless dog, of which Eric notes. He offers Eric a gun for US$300. Eric doesn't have $300, so he abruptly shoots in the head and leaves with a gun.
After another confrontation with the opium den's owner Grandma (Gillian Jones) where he again asks if she has seen his car, he walks back to his truck and finds Rey, who asks why he is using Henry's car. Eric asks Rey where Henry is, but Rey passes out.
After seeking help from a shopkeeper, Eric takes Rey to a Doctor Dorothy Peeples (Susan Prior), who performs surgery on him. The doctor cares for abandoned dogs, which seems to interest Eric. In the back room, Dorothy has many cages with dogs in them whom she is keeping safe for their absent owners, knowing that the locals would kill them for meat. The next day, Eric sees two cars approaching in the distance and takes the doctor's rifle. The occupants of the car turned out to be the traveling circus members seeking revenge for Eric's murder of the dwarf. They kill the doctor's companion without warning when he approaches their vehicles. Eric opens fire from the house and kills the three acrobats. Eric then leaves with Rey.
Eric and Rey stay at a motel in an almost-abandoned town. While Eric is away from the room, Rey loads an empty revolver, and then sees an Army vehicle driving down the street. He takes cover behind a bed and then hears someone knocking on his motel door. Afraid it is the soldier, he shoots through the door and is shocked to find he has killed the young daughter of the motel's owner, a child. He is then shot at by the soldier (Nash Edgerton) from the vehicle who stopped to investigate the shooting. Eric comes to the rescue, killing the soldier, and they drive quickly away from the scene.
Sleeping while camping near an abandoned mine, Eric is arrested by an Army soldier Sgt. Rickofferson (Anthony Hayes). At a small army base nearby, he learns he is being transported to Sydney. Eric tells him he killed his wife and her lover 10 years ago after learning she had an affair and is angry that he was able to get away with it without being arrested for their murders. The sergeant ignores him. Rey breaks into the base, and kills the two soldiers outside. When the sergeant hears gunfire outside, he goes investigate and is killed by Rey, who rescues Eric.
Eric and Rey arrive at the town where Henry and the gang are hiding. They find Eric's car outside a house and break in. Eric holds Archie and Caleb at gunpoint, while Rey goes to confront Henry, his brother. After an argument, they shoot at each other; Rey misses, but Henry shoots Rey in the throat. Eric kills Archie and Caleb, before walking into Henry's room and finding Rey's corpse. He shoots Henry in the chest and burns the bodies. A fourth man, an older gentleman, is left alive. Later, Eric pulls to the side of the road in his car.
It is revealed that he was obsessed with finding his car because his dog's corpse was in the trunk. Eric then prepares to bury his dog.
