Based on the celebrated novel by Kenneth Cook, Wake in Fright is a sharply observed drama about a schoolteacher stranded in a hostile country town. John Grant, a 'naive city-type', is stuck teaching in Tiboonda, a desolate outback town. En route to Sydney for his summer vacation, he becomes stranded in Bundanyabba after losing all his money in a two-up game. Here the harshness of outback Australian life takes over and the holiday from hell begins.