The film follows an Australian farmer, Joshua Connor (Crowe), who travels to Turkey soon after World War I to find his three sons who never returned.

The film begins in 1919, just after World War I has ended, and centres around Joshua Connor, an Australian farmer and water diviner.

His three sons Arthur, Edward, and Henry served with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) during the military campaign in Gallipoli four years previously and are presumed dead.

After his wife Eliza commits suicide out of grief, Joshua resolves to bring his sons' bodies home and bury them with their mother.

Learning the purpose of his journey, Ayshe tells him to bribe a local fisherman to travel to Gallipoli by boat.

Joshua returns to Istanbul, but fails to find out to which prison camp Arthur was transferred, as many Turkish records have been burned.

While on the train, Jemal asks Joshua about a cricket bat he found in the Allied trenches when they retreated, as he is unsure whether it is a weapon or not.

Using the bat, Joshua saves Hasan as a Greek officer prepares to execute him but Jemal is killed in the resulting struggle.

The story concept originated from a single line in a letter written by Lieutenant-Colonel Cyril Hughes, who was a worker in the Imperial War Graves unit.

[9] Producers would be Troy Lum, Andrew Mason and Keith Rodger and it was set to be shot in Australia and Turkey.

[6] On 24 October, Jai Courtney was announced as having signed to star in The Water Diviner and another historical film, Unbroken.

The website's critical consensus reads, "The Water Diviner finds Russell Crowe on somewhat uncertain footing as a director, but he's rescued by a strong performance from himself in the leading role.

Various film critics described the movie as "a distortion of history that only serves to appease Turkey and its continued agenda of genocide denial.

"[23] Anthony McAdam of The Spectator wrote: "Leaving aside aesthetic considerations, the fact is the film's lack of any historical context is breathtaking."