Sixteen-year-old Joel Tait (Aaron McGrath) has just won an Indigenous scholarship to Clifton College - one of Sydney's most elite private schools. It's his first day, and at assembly Joel's teacher notices he isn't singing the national anthem. At home that night Joel is busy learning the words so he can join in, but his father Eddie (Marley Sharp) doesn't want his son to sing the anthem.... or stand for it.

Nic Shields spends her lunchtimes playing the pokies, and in a desperate attempt to absolve a whirlpool of deceit and debt she has found herself in, stages a robbery.