Plot

An Aboriginal student on the west coast of Australia in the late '60s runs away from a Catholic boarding school with his cruel headmaster in hot pursuit, meeting eccentric characters along the journey back to his hometown.

In the Summer of 1969 a young man is filled with the life of the idyllic old pearling port Broome: fishing and hanging out with his mates and his girl. However, his mother returns him to the religious mission for further schooling. After being punished for an act of youthful rebellion, he runs away from the mission on a journey that ultimately leads him back home.—Anonymous

In 1969 Western Australia, mid-teen Willie Johnson, an aborigine from Broome, attends a Catholic boarding school in Perth, the school under the direction of headmaster Father Benedictus, who uses temptation of the flesh--in the form of food--to bribe his charges. Willie's mother wants Willie to become a priest, something he, at his tender age, has no reason not to want himself, that is until... On a vacation back at Broome, he falls in love at first sight with Rosie, the young woman in town who loves to sing. Having no experience with girls, he is both not confident enough to tell her that when he asks to spend time with her he's asking her on dates, and jealous of any attention other boys pay to her or visa versa. Back in Perth, incidents with Father Benedictus and his attraction to Rosie make Willie realize that what he really wants right now is to be at home in Broone, so he runs away and tries to make his way back home. Along the way he meets an odd assortment of characters, including Tadpole, a vagabond who claims to be his uncle; traveling hippies Slippery and Annie, one of whom might not be an actual hippie; and Roxanne, a lusty desert woman who has a tree of condoms. All the while, Father Benedictus is hot on Willie's trail, determined to bring him back to Perth. Will Willie get home? If not, who or what will stop him?—Huggo

In Broome, Western Australia in 1969, William "Willie" Johnson (Rocky McKenzie), a teenage Djukun boy, has trouble trying to woo his girlfriend, aspiring singer Rosie (Jessica Mauboy), and as a result, she instead takes an interest in the leader of the local band, Lester (Dan Sultan). Willie's mother, Theresa (Ningali Lawford), sends him back to a Catholic boarding school in Perth in order to continue his studies into becoming a priest.

One night, Willie is among a group of students that sneak into the boarding school's kitchen to steal some food and drink from the fridge, but get caught. Willie admits to being a thief before he and the students sing "Nothing I Would Rather Be", but before the school can punish him, he runs away. While wandering around the streets of Perth that night, he meets a group of people, including one who introduces himself as 'Uncle' Tadpole (Ernie Dingo), who offers to help Willie get back to Broome.

The next day, they make their way to Fremantle, where Tadpole jumps in front of a Volkswagen Kombi van, forcing its driver to slam on the brakes, and acts like he has been hit by the van in the hope that the hippies inside it, "Slippery" (Tom Budge), a German tourist travelling with his girlfriend Annie (Missy Higgins), will help him out. Slippery and Annie agree to drive Tadpole and Willie back to Broome, oblivious to how far away it actually is.

The head of the boarding school from which Willie ran away, Father Benedictus (Geoffrey Rush), realises that despite his thieving, Willie has a lot of potential, and leaves the school determined to find him. He learns from the group of homeless friends that Tadpole had been with that Tadpole and Willie are both heading to Broome.

As the four travellers continue their drive north, they stop off at a roadhouse owned by a tarty and frisky woman called "Roadhouse Betty" (Magda Szubanski). There, Tadpole attempts to steal some food, a bottle of wine and a Rolf Harris cassette, but when his concealment is discovered by Betty just as they are leaving the shop, she produces a shotgun and fires it at the Kombi as it escapes. The escape is narrow enough to get Slippery disillusioned, and he and Annie soon drop Tadpole and Willie off in the middle of nowhere. Tadpole exacts his revenge by pointing a bone at the van, and the effects of the curse are immediate as the van promptly breaks down.

When a truck passes by carrying the members of a football team on its back, Willie flags it down, and when the driver tells him that the team are going to Broome, Willie rides with them. The truck turns off the Great Northern Highway and ends up in Port Hedland, and there Willie meets a flirty girl named Roxanne (Deborah Mailman), who takes him to a "condom tree" and offers to show him a good time. Their moment together is interrupted when Roxanne's boyfriend turns up and starts to fight Willie, who is saved when Tadpole, who had repaired the van whose breakdown he had caused, turns up to rescue him and fights Roxanne's boyfriend. Tadpole tells Willie afterwards that all young men end up at the "condom tree" at some point.

The following morning, the four travellers continue their drive along the Great Northern Highway when they are all startled by a hung-over Roxanne waking up in the back of the van. When some of the group start smoking marijuana, their activity is discovered by a passing police car who signals to the van to pull over. In spite of the best attempts of Annie, all of the travellers are arrested and taken to a nearby police station. In the questioning that follows, we find out that Tadpole's real name is Stephen Johnson and Slippery's real name is Wolfgang Benedictus. The travellers are then put in jail cells for the night, where Willie has a dream in which he meets his ancestors.

Next morning, the travellers are released and continue their drive towards Broome. They end up at the Roebuck Bay Hotel, where Rosie happens to be performing. When Willie tries to win Rosie back, he ends up getting into a fight with Lester, where he tries some of the moves Tadpole used when he rescued Willie from his previous fight with Roxanne's boyfriend. The fight between Willie and Lester gets interrupted by a church temperance march where people are called to the beach to testify, but not before Roxanne shows interest in Lester.

Willie finally gets the opportunity to tell Rosie that he loves her, and the two of them share a kiss. At the beach, Theresa confesses to having a child with another man, and after Father Benedictus turns up at the beach in his search for Willie, Theresa says that he was the other man, leading Wolfgang to realise that he is their son, and Annie to realise that she is also an Aborigine. Later, Theresa also spots Stephen and tells Willie that he is his father. The film ends with the cast joining in a reprise of "Nothing I Would Rather Be".