Three young Christmas Islanders (CI) are about to decide whether to leave their island home to pursue careers on the mainland, or to stay and save their declining community. They each come from one of the three main ethnicities in the community of 1300, and therefore live a very similar life, but under very different cultural influences. In a typical day on the island, their different values and ways of thinking inform how they share their aspirations for the future, and fear for their community. At first, we follow the three stories separately, witnessing how different and yet similar their morning routine plays out. Life appears blissful and almost too good to be true, as the island is a tropical paradise, the water is clear, the wildlife unimpacted and there is no crime. On the walk to school, the looming mining infrastructure and economic hardship on the island becomes apparent, and the students talk to their friends about the problems they see, and what the island is missing for them.
Throughout the school day, the students meet and work on a project together on the history of the island, and are confronted with stories of hardship, and the islands dependance on young people to help the community persist. As the day progresses, life on the island appears more gloomy, even as the students finish the school day and go about their favourite activities. Again we switch more and more rapidly between locations, watching them simultaneously process their emotions while remaining immersed in their individual activities until the pressure becomes too much to bear and the scene cuts.
As the sun sets and the community finds itself congregating by the main cove as usual, the three protagonists watch the mining ships depart, but also one sailing boat enter the harbour. They are reminded that no decision to leave need be a final one. While they are still uncertain, the three families agree that wisdom gained on the outside might be exactly what the island needs.
