Fiona (Radha Mitchell) and Ben (Joel Edgerton) are a couple from Australia—she is a successful, self-starting lawyer while he is a relaxed, easy-going musician.

Fiona and Ben, who want to adopt a child, travel to India for what they imagine will be a quick and simple process.

However, once they arrive in Calcutta (now Kolkata) they learn that little happens quickly in India, and for all the promises that have been made, they begin to doubt whether they will be able to complete the final stages of the adoption process.

While Fiona stays in touch with her clients at home via the internet and deals with the legal red tape slowing down the adoption, Ben finds himself wandering the streets of Calcutta and adjusting to the rhythms of the city.

The stress of the waiting period seems to reinforce the differences between Fiona and Ben, and tension begins to grow into anger and resentment; adding to Ben's dissatisfaction is his budding friendship with Scarlett (Isabel Lucas), an attractive fellow visitor who seems more compatible with his attitudes than his wife.

When Ben and Fiona finally go to the orphanage to meet their would-be daughter Lakshmi, they discover that she is chronically ill and likely unable to survive a flight to Sydney.

[5] Fiona's character representation as a "career-centred contemporary woman"[4] contradicts the conventional depictions of motherhood.

[4] Krishna, the couple's driver in India, challenges Fiona's suitability as a mother due to her and Ben not already having children.

[4] Fiona's surroundings during the trip, through religion and culture, reinforce India's firm beliefs of what it means to be a mother, that is, women should have a strong desire for motherhood.

[5] These traditional beliefs make Fiona engage with her role as a woman and how she should want to attain motherhood.

Fiona is dominating and Ben has a lack of masculinity, preventing him from becoming the patriarchal role in the family unit.

[11] Production design for the film was done by Pete Baxter, who has since worked on television shows such as Safe Harbour in 2018, On the Ropes in 2018, and Total Control in 2019.

The Waiting City premiered at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival on 16 September 2009, and received its wide release in Australian cinemas on 15 July 2010.

[2] The Waiting City earned mixed reviews; critics praised the cinematography, script and relationships explored in the film, but criticised the representation of the characters.

[19] Giles Hardie, an Australian film critic with the Sydney Morning Herald, gave The Waiting City 4 stars out of 5.

She criticised the film's "uneven execution of pivotal moments" and how the events depicted were not genuine and did not have "poignancy.

"[20] She criticised the film's representation of Fiona and Ben as "extremes" whose characters were opposite of each other, questioning how realistic their relationship was.

[20] Mark Naglazas, a critic with The West Australian, praised Mitchell and Edgerton's performances but criticised the "more melodramatic contrivances involving an Indian hotel employee who becomes the rather unlikely voice of Indian spiritualism..."[21] The Waiting City was nominated for 4 awards at the Inside Film Awards in 2010, including Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Actor, and Best Actress.