Cirrus@Austlit

'Soon after getting married, and just after the outbreak of the Second World War, Dr Phillip Spence (Martin Donovan) and his former student Evelyn (Maya Stange) set out for Papua New Guinea to study the culture of the Trobriand Islanders. The two anthropologists intend to further the work others have done on the sexuality and social organisation of the matrilineal society. Tensions quickly emerge between them and the few other Westerners in the area. Their relationship worsens after Evelyn unwittingly transgresses several cultural taboos; Phillip is concerned that her behaviour is negatively affecting his work by changing their relationship with the locals.

'Evelyn pays Mick (Rufus Sewell), a Western pearl trader, to take her to a village of headhunters in the muddy rainforests of the Papua New Guinea mainland so she can get out of Phillip’s way and prove herself with fieldwork of her own. The attraction grows between Mick and Evelyn but she is determined to stay on alone despite the harsh living conditions and the aggression her new cohabitants show towards her. Mick arrives earlier than planned to fetch her because Phillip is dying from dysentery back in the Trobriand Islands. After his death she adopts the mourning habits of the village women by living in a cage. Mick watches over her and, when she returns to her old self, their relationship develops as Japanese soldiers move into the area.'

Source: Australian Screen.