Professor David Lurie (John Malkovich) teaches literature at a South African university, but is caught having an affair with one of his students. Dismissed after a discipline board finds him guilty of sexual harassment against Melanie Isaacs (Antoinette Engel), he moves to the Capetown area to be with his daughter from a previous marriage. Lucy (Jessica Haines) works with abused animals and is a Lesbian, though she is a business partner with Petrus (Eriq Ebouaney). During his visit, David’s daughter becomes a rape victim by three black men. Pregnant from the encounter, she decides to keep the baby, teaching her father a lesson. He seeks forgiveness from the student he has wronged and her family.