In this uncompromising Australian period drama, conscience competes with loyalty and love spurs revenge. Three brothers fight for their place in a beautiful, brutal landscape, but one must be forsaken to save another in the unconscionable "Proposition".

Set in the 1880s, the film opens in the middle of a frenzied gunfight between the police and a gang of outlaws. Charlie Burns (Guy Pearce) and his brother Mikey are captured by Captain Stanley (Ray Winstone). Together with their formidable brother Arthur (Danny Huston), they are wanted for a brutal crime. Stanley makes Charlie a seemingly impossible proposition in an attempt to bring an end to the cycle of turmoil.