Plot
In 1825, on the eve of the Black War, Irish convict Clare Carroll works as a servant for a Colonial force detachment commanded by Lieutenant Hawkins. The unit is visited by an officer to see if Hawkins is fit for promotion. Clare, nicknamed "Nightingale", sings and serves drinks for the men. After work, Clare visits Hawkins to make an inquiry, and he forces her to sing a special song for him. Hawkins makes unwanted advances to her and Clare rebuffs them. She asks about getting a letter of recommendation that would free her, her husband Aidan, and their infant daughter Bridget. But Hawkins rapes her for her perceived insolence. Aidan suspects that Clare has been hurt and tries to persuade Hawkins to give the letter.
That night, Aidan engages in a brawl with Hawkins, his second-in-command Sergeant Ruse, and Ensign Jago. The visiting officer witnesses the incident and decides that he is unfit for promotion. Hawkins commands Ruse and Jago to gather supplies for a journey through the bush to the town of Launceston, Tasmania, in hopes of negotiating with the officer. Before departing, the soldiers intercept the Carroll family, as they attemptto flee. Hawkins rapes Clare again and orders Ruse to do so as well, which he does. Hawkins shoots and kills Aidan, and commands Jago to quiet Clare's crying baby; he kills the infant.
The following morning, Clare awakes. She reports the incident to a RMP officer, but realizes that he's no help. She decides to seek revenge herself, with the help of an Aboriginal tracker named Billy. Clare tells Billy she wants to rendezvous with her husband who accompanies the colonial forces. At first, Clare is openly racist towards Billy. He sees her as no different from the English colonists who murdered his family.
Their mutual hostility dissipates, however, as they learn about each other's terrible losses and realize that they are both survivors of conquered peoples with persecuted cultures. Billy tells Clare that his true name is Mangana, palawa kani for "blackbird", the yellow-tailed black cockatoo. He wants to go north to reunite with the female survivors of his tribe.
Meanwhile, the officers recruit three white convicts and an Aboriginal tracker, Charlie, for their journey. Hawkins takes a liking to one of the convicts, a child named Eddie. Ruse kidnaps a woman named Lowanna (Irish or indigenous?) to be used as a sex slave. Aboriginal men kill one of the convicts and injure Jago in an unsuccessful rescue mission. Hawkins holds Lowanna hostage, then kills her, distracting the men.
He, Ruse, and the convicts flee, leaving Jago behind. Later, Clare and Mangana stumble upon Jago, whom the tracker assumes is her husband. Clare corners Jago, stabbing and beating him to death (an event that haunts her later nightmares). A shocked Mangana considers abandoning Clare, but when he learns the reasons behind her quest for revenge, he decides to stay.
Charlie , in revenge for the soldiers' brutality towards the natives, diverts the journey to a dead end on a mountain summit. Ruse kills him, but Hawkins chastises Ruse, as Charlie was the only one who could have led them out of the bush. He forces Ruse to take over as guide on the way back down.
After Clare and Mangana find Charlie's body, Mangana performs burial rites and tells Clare that he, too, seeks vengeance. The two approach the group of four men, but Clare freezes when she sees Hawkins, allowing him to graze her with a musket shot, forcing Clare and Mangana to split up. Mangana is found and forced to be the new guide. He brings the soldiers back to the main path to Launceston, and Hawkins orders Eddie to kill Mangana, but Eddie hesitates, allowing Mangana to escape. Hawkins tries to abandon Eddie, but when Eddie begs for a second chance, Hawkins shoots and kills him.
Clare finds her way back onto the main path and reunites with Mangana. They encounter a chain gang of Aboriginal men, one of whom tells Mangana that he is the last of his people. When the prisoner yells at his captors about their treatment of indigenous people, they shoot him and the others dead before proceeding to take their heads as trophies. Later, while eating dinner with a sympathetic English couple, Mangana weeps openly, lamenting the loss of his people and home.
In Launceston, Clare confronts the newly promoted Hawkins as a mass murderer and a rapist in front of his fellow officers. Mangana watches in hiding. The two flee town, but Mangana dons war paint, and returns, despite Clare's pleas that he will be murdered.
She follows as Mangana enters the hostel where Hawkins and Ruse are lodged. The tracker kills them both, but Ruse shoots him and severely wounds him. Clare and Mangana fle, reaching a beach where Mangana sings and dances, declaring himself a free man. Clare sings a Sean-nós song in the Irish language as the two watch the sun rise.
