In August 1980, Lindy Chamberlain and her husband, Michael, take their two sons, Aidan and Reagan, and nine-week old daughter, Azaria, on a road trip to Ayers Rock in the Northern Territory of Australia. One night, at a campsite near the rock, Michael throws food scraps to a wild dingo lingering nearby and Lindy reprimands him for encouraging the animal. After putting Azaria to sleep in a basinet inside the children’s tent, Lindy returns to Michael at the grill, several feet away from the tent. Suddenly, another young mother hears Azaria crying and alerts Lindy, who rushes toward the tent and sees the backside of a dingo half-immersed in the children’s tent. It appears to be shaking its head, although Lindy cannot see what is in its mouth. Lindy yells at the dingo and the animal flees. By the time Lindy reaches the tent, she discovers that Azaria is missing from her basinet and cries, “The dingo got my baby!” Although Lindy chases after the dingo, it is too dark to see. Hoping to save Azaria, Michael and several campers wield flashlights as they make their way into the brush surrounding the campsite. When the police organize an even larger search party, Michael, a minister of the Seventh Day Adventist church, leads them in prayer, acknowledging that Azaria can no longer be alive but thanking them for their continued efforts. A nearby hotel offers to house the Chamberlains, free of charge, while police continue to investigate. Unable to sleep, Lindy frets about leaving the tent unzipped while Michael wonders aloud why God has taken their baby. The next day, police report they have found nothing. News reporters arrive to interview the Chamberlains, and when their story is aired, Australians react in disbelief and joke about the improbability of a dingo eating a baby. Sometime later, the Chamberlains return home, and reporters continue to hound the family for interviews. Bloodstained baby clothes are found in a cave located near a dingo lair, and some reports state that the clothes were neatly folded. People gossip about the Chamberlains’ religious beliefs; rumors spread that they sacrificed their baby in a strange ritual and were once linked to the Jonestown cult. The couple is also faulted for giving so many interviews, but Lindy insists she simply wants to counter the untruths floating around. Angry about the hype surrounding them, Michael orders Lindy to stop talking to the press. Meanwhile, forensic scientists examine Azaria’s bloodstained clothes and determine that dingo teeth could not have made the tears. Police investigator Graeme Charlwood visits the Chamberlains at home and an inquiry is held soon after; however, a death threat interrupts Lindy’s testimony, and later, a bomb threat is called in to the Chamberlains’ hotel at Ayers Rock, where they are forced to return for further questioning. In a televised ruling, a judge finds the Chamberlains innocent, but states that a human, not a dingo, murdered their child. Michael is accepted into a masters program at Avondale College and the family moves to a new home near the campus. On the anniversary of Azaria’s death, Michael brings Lindy flowers and weeps, admitting that he is sometimes overwhelmed by anger because he hardly knew their daughter. Just as their lives begin to settle down, the chief minister of the Northern Territory police allows Graeme Charlwood to re-open his investigation of the Chamberlains. Their house is raided for a second time, and the families who were at the Ayers Rock campsite at the time of Azaria’s death are questioned. New forensic reports claim the baby was decapitated, and police find a stain underneath the dashboard of the Chamberlains’ car that appears to be dried blood. Murder charges are brought against Lindy, alleging she slit Azaria’s throat inside the car and transported the baby's body inside Michael’s camera bag to a hiding place. Meanwhile, Lindy convinces Michael to conceive a child with her, as they may not have another chance if she goes to jail. Michael struggles with his faith in God, unsure that he can continue to be a pastor when he cannot understand God’s will. As the trial begins, Lindy is visibly pregnant. Her defense lawyers insist that the “blood” found in the car could technically be rust, the nail scissors she is accused of using to cut the baby’s clothes were not sharp enough, and despite public opinion otherwise, dingos are capable of carrying up to twenty pounds in their mouths over long distances. During her testimony, Lindy claims that Azaria was wearing a matinee jacket on top of the baby clothes that were found, which would explain why no dingo saliva was detected on the underclothes. Lindy’s cool demeanor irks the general public, and she ignores her lawyers’ urgings to act more demure. Although the judge encourages the jury to remain unbiased, a majority of Australians believe Lindy killed her child and the jury agrees, finding her guilty. She is sentenced to life in prison and hard labor, while Michael is found to be an accessory and sentenced to eighteen months in prison; however, as the primary caretaker of their children, he is pardoned. Despite Lindy’s appeals to keep her baby in prison, the newborn, Kahlia, is removed from her mother’s arms an hour after birth. Michael raises the baby at home, along with Aidan and Reagan, and continues to fight for Lindy’s innocence. Over the next few years, the alleged blood pattern underneath the dashboard of the Chamberlains’ car is found in several similar models, and Azaria’s matinee jacket is discovered near Ayers Rock. Lindy is released from prison “on compassionate grounds” and her neighbors celebrate her arrival home. Although young Kahlia does not want to hug Lindy at first, the family is happily reunited. At church, Lindy tells her fellow parishioners that the fight to clear her name has only just begun. She and Michael are finally found innocent and exonerated in 1988, eight years after Azaria’s diappearance.