While on vacation in the Australian outback, Seventh Day Adventist priest Michael Chamberlain (Sam Neill) and his wife, Lindy (Meryl Streep), discover that their baby, Azaria, is missing from the tent where she was sleeping. Lindy claims she saw a dingo leave the tent with something in its mouth. Initial evidence supports the Chamberlains, but negative media coverage and unfounded rumors create a shift in public opinion as people begin to suspect the couple of murdering their baby.