, Wellington on 1 October 2011 The film centres around
Tongan New Zealander rugby fan Maka, who is seeking to get tickets to attend the
2011 Rugby World Cup's
Tonga versus France game in
Wellington on 1 October 2011. Maka frequently clashes with his successful cousin Veni, who has aspirations of climbing the social ladder and regards Maka as a loser. Following a church fundraising effort, Maka buys fake tickets from a local criminal. Though Maka's mother manages to recover the funds, they are too late to buy the tickets for the match. Still determined to watch the Tonga versus France match, Maka comes up with the idea of creating a brass band to perform during the pre-match entertainment. However, the band does not exist, and Maka has four weeks to create the band. Despite the disapproval of his conservative church minister father and the Tongan community elders, Maka forms an impromptu band consisting of Veni, his father, his cousin and several church members. Maka also enlists the help of a recent Tongan migrant, who was formerly part of a brass band, and a local
Pakeha music teacher, to help train the band and acquire musical instruments respectively. With the help of Aroha, a
Māori woman who works for the
Wellington City Council, Maka secures an audition for the brass band to represent the Tongan community at the pre-match entertainment. However, Maka botches the audition when he attempts to incorporate some modern hip-hop moves into the performance, resulting the City Council rejecting the group's application to perform. Footage of the botched audition is circulated on social media, causing embarrassment to the Tongan community and elders. Despite this setback, Maka manages to convince Aroha and the City Council to reconsider their decision by staging an impromptu performance by the brass band. Though the Tongan community's elders are opposed to the brass band participating at the Tongan versus France match, Maka's father manages to convince them to agree to a compromise where Makas' team will perform a traditional Tongan hymn. Maka's band also receives help from the Tongan community, who manufacture red costumes for them. On the day of the France versus Tonga match, Maka and his brass band initially play their traditional hymn but incorporate modern hip-hop moves. Their performance is well received by the spectators and Tongan community. The post-credit blurb mentions that Tonga beat France during the match by a margin of 19 to 14. ==Cast==