Mad Bastards (ATOM Study Guide)

TJ is a tough, volatile man tortured by his own soul. Fleeing a life of urban chaos in Perth, and with few other options, he sets out on a 2000-kilometre journey north to the remote Kimberley town of Five Rivers to find thirteen-year-old Bullet, the son he has never met.

In the rugged Kimberly, TJ locks horns with local police officer Texas, who has family troubles weighing heavily upon him. He has just driven Bullet to a boys' camp in the bush to save him from being locked up.

Fiercely protective of his community, Texas doesn't like the look of TJ and doesn't want him in his town. He has to fight to keep a lid on his anger. After years of partying, Bullet's mother Nella has now cleaned up her life, but still feels resentment towards TJ for his long absence. This fuels TJ's volatility. However, Nella doesn't stand in the way of Bullet – when he returns from the bush camp – getting to know his father, as she knows this is what her son wants.

But TJ's old ways surface and when his anger boils over, it sparks a meltdown in Bullet. Texas is furious and the two big men clash violently out on the vast Five Rivers floodplain. Texas offers a beaten and bloody TJ the chance for redemption.