A international science conference is held in Australia when Dr. Austin Shepard mysteriously disappears. Dr. Shepard's colleague, Christopher Richardson and other people are soon faced with the reality of an impending crisis and an attempt to keep the information from the public. While a full-blown supernova does not occur, explosions on the sun cause massive damage in Australia, and is shown often in Sydney and in various other cities and countries of the world.

Nat drives on the interstate with his two young daughters in the back seats, when a car drives by and an unknown guy shoots one of his daughters dead for no reason. Nat's life is shattered. He becomes obsessed with finding the killers, assaults two men, kills one, goes to jail, is left by his wife, grows old estranged from his other daughter. We see the action first through Nat's eyes, then via Brautigan, the cop in charge of the investigation, and finally from the perspective of the remaining daughter Margo. The deconstructed narrative echoes the chaos within Nat and emphasizes the fact that the characters are out of tune with one another, which is the meaning of the original title.

Jason joins a group of criminal thrill-seekers to find out what happened with his vanished girlfriend.