A group of women known as the "ladies in black" are introduced to shy sixteen-year-old Lisa when she starts a summer vacation work in a large Sydney department store at the beginning of 1959.

With problems on the home front, 15-year-old Murra is on the verge of lashing out. That is, until her policeman uncle thwarts her self-destructive behaviour with a lifeline: a “photo-safari for at-risk kids”. Murra isn’t entirely convinced, but she soon joins cantankerous Kylie, uptight Sean, happy-go-lucky Elvis, and camp counsellors Fernando and Michelle on a transformative bus trip to the Pilbara. On the trail, the teens learn about fun, friendship and first crushes, as well as the forces of ‘reality’ that puncture the bubble of youth.

During the Vietnam War, a recon unit ventures to an isolated jungle valley to uncover the fate of a missing platoon. They soon find themselves in a fight for their lives against an unexpected enemy — prehistoric dinosaurs.