In Australian slang, "shiralee" means "burden." It describes how itinerant laborer "Mac" Macauley (Bryan Brown) thinks of his nine-year-old daughter, Buster. Proud and stubborn, Mac ekes out a living - sometimes with his fists - on the dusty roads of the '40s and '50s Outback, with Buster in tow. At times grudgingly Mac and Buster forge a father-daughter bond that hunger & hardship cannot break.
