Phillipa "Snip" Freeman is an artist and a wanderer, proudly in control of her world. That is until an envelope arrives, mailed by her grandmother before her death. It contains a check for $30,000 and one simple instruction: Hunt him down. With the note in hand, and with Dave, her handsome traveling companion, Snip embarks on a three-thousand-mile journey into the fierce Australian outback to find her father, Bud, and to unravel the terrifying silence of her childhood. Snip reaches Bud in the communal land of the Aborigines, and thinks that perhaps she has found home. But suddenly the shadow of past mistakes looms over the territory, and Bud must flee. Desperate for her father's love, Snip follows. On the run together, father and daughter face the cruel expanse of the desert as they speak of past hurts and betrayals, and Bud finally reveals the dreadful secret behind his self imposed exile.