A film sequel is always a risky venture, and thus it is with Goldstone, Ivan Sen's follow-up to his 2013 outback crime drama, Mystery Road. But it is just one risk the writer–director–cinematographer director takes with this film.

Goldstone re-introduces us to the indigenous police detective Jay Swan (Aaron Pedersen). The three years since the violent events in Mystery Road have not been kind to him. Jay is suffering from a major personal loss and hitting the drink. As the film opens, a very drunk Jay is pulled over and breathalysed by a young cop, Josh (Alex Russell), on a stretch of outback road on the outskirts of the small town of Goldstone. Seeing that Jay is over the limit, Josh roughly cuffs him, drives him to the local police station, and locks him up, only realising later as he goes through Jay's personal effects that the drunken black man is a fellow police officer.