After his sister is injured in an accident Jack Flange (Alex O' Lachlan) must leave Sydney for the small town of Brooklyn New South Wales to care for her Here on the winding Hawkesbury River a population of fishermen & eccentrics live a simple life Though he finds work with Brownie (David Field) an oyster farmer with a failing marriage Jack robs a fish market & mails himself the money to help with his sister's medical expenses--but in a freak accident the money falls into the river Instead of thinking the money is simply lost he theorises that it has gone to support the expensive shoe habit of sexy local cleaning woman Pearl (Diana Glenn)--but as he attempts to find out the truth he begins to fall in love with her With OYSTER FARMER first-time writerdirector Anna Reeves has crafted a story that may be safely placed in the fish-out-of-water genre but wisely sidesteps the genre's stereotypical cutesiness by writing characters made from true guts & grit & infusing the proceedings with atypical saltiness & sexiness Newcomers Lachlan & Glenn are appealing screen presences but character actors Field & Jim Norton (as Brownie's father Mumbles)--along with the stunning aerial shots of the Hawkesbury--are the true heart of the film