Charlie, an Aboriginal man who lives in Arnhem Land paints tree barks and fishes barramundi fish, all the while feeling out of place in an Australia which is no longer his.<ref name="janehoward">Jane Howard, [https://www.theguardian.com/culture/australia-culture-blog/2013/oct/15/charlies-country-adelaide-review Charlie's Country review — slow indictment of a colonialist relationship], ''The Guardian'', 15 October 2013</ref> He laments the loss of his culture in modern Australia. After his spear is confiscated by the police, who think it is a weapon, he decides to leave his urban Aboriginal community and go back to the bush, his "Mother Country."<ref name="janehoward"/> He falls ill and is rushed to the hospital in Darwin, Northern Territory.<ref name="janehoward"/> He discharges himself, then befriends an Aboriginal woman and buys alcohol illegally for other Aboriginals, and he gets arrested.<ref name="janehoward"/> As a result, he is sent to prison.<ref name="janehoward"/> When he gets out, he agrees to pass on traditional dances from his generation to young Aboriginal boys, fearing the loss of their cultural identity.