Following the suicide of Lisa, a young Sydney drifter and prostitute, her best friend Lou and her long-ago college lover Rob are drawn together. He is a suburbanite who runs a bookshop and has a trendy open marriage. She is an uneducated heroin addict and hooker who longs for a better life. Although these two are worlds apart, they meet and talk of Lisa's tragic existence and what she meant to each of them.

The Winter of Our Dreams is an odd Australian film about the dis-ease in two very different people's lives. Judy Davis (My Brilliant Career) convincingly conveys both Lou's frustration with her situation and the character's determination to change her destiny.

Bryan Brown ("A Town Like Alice", Breaker Morant) portrays Rob's ambivalent attitudes toward his wife and work. Although he lets Lou use his home when she tries to overcome her heroin habit, he has no intention of caring for her in the future. In the end, both characters realize they must find their own portion of happiness in the present. John Duigan's screenplay is greatly enhanced by the strong performances of Davis and Brown.