It stars Richard Roxburgh, Judy Davis, Geoffrey Rush, Sam Neill, and F. Murray Abraham as Joseph Stalin.

Returning to Australia, Joan discovers she is pregnant and gives birth to Stalin's love child, whom she names Joe.

Her son (who does not know who his father is) has a troubled upbringing, rebelling against both his mother's left wing politics and Australian society in general.

Pledging to go on the straight and narrow, Joe rises to become the head of Australia's police union and seizes more and more political power.

The film was inspired in part by Peter Duncan's grandfather, who was a long-standing member of the Communist Party.