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The film, set in 1944, follows Jack, a WWI veteran, whose lost hopes and values lead to isolation and an empty feeling that is too hard to shake. This solitude abruptly ends when he meets Masaru, an escaped Japanese POW. Suddenly Jack shows the first sign in many years of not giving in to death. Learning of a mass suicide breakout from the POW camp nearby, Jack and rifle march Masaru back to camp. None of this is new to Masaru, for him, death is constantly just around the corner. Both men understand that war is not a simple question of good versus evil but there are rules to which each man must act. Jack shows little compassion for Masaru and speaks freely about his thoughts on the Japanese. When pushed too far Masaru lashes back, revealing a will to fight and a fool in Jack. He can understand English. But it's not long before Jack finds solace in the fact that he is not alone. They are, after all, just two men in different uniforms talking to each other. Eventually a hint of compassion and sympathy flows between the two. Unknowingly they both portray a desire for hope. It must still exist in the world somewhere. The film is not about heroism. It's about the legacy of war through the eyes of the ordinary men who survive it. For Masaru the film ends in ineffable tragedy, and for Jack, life is once again completely altered.

Somewhere Near Kokoda is about the struggle of men in war. It focuses on two Australians pinned down deep in the dense jungle of New Guinea, facing an enemy they cannot see, the Japanese. MAX, a cameraman, sent fresh from home to capture the Australians on film, is left to fend for himself while DAVO finds a way back to the men. But MAX is not alone. Instead he comes face to face with the enemy and the decision to kill for the first time. MAX does not see the enemy that his fellow men despise. And he does not know how to kill? MAX will get his first lesson from the footage of his own camera, but he will have to survive this to ever see it.