When disaster strikes, a community rises! In the face of New Zealand's largest pollution disaster, a community unites to save their treasured coast, but divisions grow with the ongoing fight to remove the wreckage and restore the environment. When the MV Rena grounded on Ōtāiti (Astrolabe reef) on 5 October 2011 it wasn’t just the iconic New Zealand coastline and wildlife that were threatened by the ensuing black waves of oil and debris, but also a lifestyle treasured by its residents. Floundering bureaucrats are too slow to respond to the disaster, so the local community takes matters into their own hands, to clean up the massive field of oil and debris strewn along the coast. The film captures the shock, anger and grief driven into the heart of the local community, but also the humour, purpose and overwhelming positivity when people join together with a common goal.