Beth had left her small
Māori village and, despite her parents' objections, marries the violent and domineering Jake "The Muss" Heke. Now, eighteen years later, they live with their five children in an unkempt
state house in
South Auckland. Jake is laid off from his job but shows little interest in finding new work. He receives the
unemployment benefit and spends most days drinking at a nearby pub with friends and getting into bar fights. He often brings groups from the pub back to the family home for parties, during which he is physically violent toward Beth. On one occasion, he assaults her in front of the guests, who do not intervene. Beth in turn also begins drinking heavily and displays occasional outbursts towards her children. Their children are left to look after themselves and clean up the house following incidents of domestic violence. Nig, the eldest son of the Heke family, moves out to join a gang whose rituals include getting
facial tattoos. He undergoes an initiation beating, passes and is then embraced as a new brother. Nig cares about his siblings but despises his father; he is angered when his mother is beaten but does not intervene. Nig's younger brother Mark, aka "Boogie", is placed in a
foster home as a ward of the state due to his parents' home life. Jake is unconcerned and hopes the experience will toughen him up. Despite his initial anger, Boogie finds a new niche for himself after the foster home's manager, Mr. Bennett, helps him embrace his Māori heritage. The family pools all their money to rent a car to visit Boogie. However, Jake stops at the pub and spends the day drinking, leaving the family waiting outside before they take a taxi home. Grace, Jake and Beth’s 13-year-old daughter, keeps a journal of events and stories for her younger siblings. Her best friend is Toot, a homeless boy living in a wrecked car. She fears an inevitable future of marriage, which she associates with serving a husband and enduring abuse, and dreams of living independently. Grace is
raped by Uncle Bully, a friend of her father, and falls into a deep
depression. Grace seeks support from Toot, with whom she smokes marijuana for the first time, but when Toot tries to kiss her she reacts violently and storms out, believing he is "just like the rest of them". Confused, Grace eventually goes home to an angry Jake with his friends. Bully asks for a goodnight kiss to test his power over her. She refuses and Jake sees it as a sign of disrespect, so he rips her journal in two and nearly beats her. Beth returns home from searching for Grace, and then wails and screams hysterically after finding her daughter has hanged herself from a tree branch in the backyard. Jake selfishly deals with the tragedy by going to the pub while the rest of his family takes Grace's body to a
tangihanga. Beth stands up to him for the first time when he refuses to let her be taken to the
marae. The film cross-cuts between the family mourning on the marae and Jake's drinking. Boogie impresses Beth with his Māori singing at the funeral, and Toot says his goodbyes, telling Grace the gentle kiss he gave her the last time he saw her was a gesture meant only to confirm their mantra 'best friends for life'. Boogie reassures Toot that Grace loved him, and Beth invites him to live with them. Reading Grace's diary later that night, Beth finds out about the rape and confronts Bully at the pub. Jake initially threatens Beth for accusing his friend, but Nig steps between them, protecting his mother, and tells Jake to look at the diary for himself. This realisation sends Jake into a blind rage, as he beats Bully to near-death. Beth, blaming Jake just as much as Bully because of his violent lifestyle, decides to take their children back to her Māori village and traditions, defiantly telling him that her heritage gives her the strength to resist his control over her. Jake shouts at her on a kerb outside the pub as the family leaves, before collapsing to the ground in defeat, with police sirens wailing in the background. ==Cast==