Growing up with her drifting single mother, sixteen-year-old HEIDI (Abbie Cornish) has learned to use sex as a survival tool. After a confrontation in her suburban Canberra home, Heidi feels unable to remain with her mother. She flees to Jindabyne, seeking work in the snowfields. With little money or practical experience, she accepts a job at a petrol station beside Lake Jindabyne. Heidi befriends her co-worker BIANCA (Hollie Andrew), and, over time, Bianca’s mother (Leah Purcell) and family. She begins a romance with a wealthy local farmer JOE (Sam Worthington), and finds a home behind the motel of kindly IRENE (Lynette Curran). Heidi’s new life unfolds happily. Joe’s relationship with Heidi challenges his ideas of sexuality, class and his future in this place. When Heidi’s past invades her new world, her resulting behaviour damages every relationship she has formed, until she discovers the transforming power of forgiveness and learns that she is more than she had realised.
