After the long voyage from Scotland, Ada McGrath (Holly Hunter) and daughter Flora (Anna Paquin) are camped on a New Zealand beach, in a tent made from Ada’s skirt hoops.

Stan has been placed in charge of security in the Japanese compound. His friend, Hayashi (Junichi Ishada) begs him to try to reverse the order to move some of the prisoners to another location.

At the Cowra POW camp, another 100 Japanese prisoners have arrived and pour scorn on their compatriots for having accepted their prison status without a fight to the death for the honour

Alone in their bedroom, Ada (Holly Hunter) tells her daughter Flora (Anna Paquin) a story about her real father.

Flora (Anna Paquin) and the Maori children play a sexually suggestive game amongst the trees, watched by the Maori women. Mr Stewart (Sam Neill) stops Flora, telling her never to behave that way.