| Director | Julie Bertuccelli |
|---|---|
| Genre | Christmas film, drama film, melodrama |
| Runtime | 100 min |
| Country | Australia, France, Germany, Italy |
| Budget | €7.7 million |
| Box office | $2.2 million |
Dawn and Peter O'Neil live together with their children (three boys and a girl), on the outskirts of a small country town. Next to their rambling house stands the kids' favourite playground: a giant Moreton Bay fig tree (now known in real-life as the Teviotville Tree), whose branches reach high towards the sky and roots stretch far into the ground.
Everything seems perfect until Peter suffers a heart attack, crashing his car into the tree's trunk. Dawn is devastated, left alone with her grief and four children to raise. Until one day, 8-year-old Simone, reveals a secret to her mother. She's convinced her father whispers to her through the leaves of the tree and he's come back to protect them. Dawn takes comfort from Simone's imagination, and starts to believe in it herself; just like Simone, Dawn also likes to spend time in the tree. It starts to dominate their physical and emotional landscape. But the close bond between mother and Simone forged through a mutual sorrow and shared secret, is threatened by the arrival of George, the plumber, called in to remove the tree's troublesome roots. As the relationship between Dawn and George blossoms, the tree continues to grow, with its branches infiltrating the house, its roots destroying the foundations. Dawn decides the tree has to go. George and some other workmen arrive, but Simone climbs in the tree to defend it. Dawn and George try to convince her, but she refuses to come down. George argues to Dawn that the girl is only 8 years old, Dawn should not allow her to stop the necessary removal of the tree. This irritates Dawn, and she cancels the operation, and tells George she does not want to see him again.
In a big storm the house is demolished by the tree, and the family leaves the area, planning to start living somewhere else, perhaps in a tent.