David Lurie (John Malkovich), twice-divorced and dissatisfied with his job as an English professor in post-apartheid South Africa, finds his life falling apart. When he seduces one of his students, he is dismissed from his teaching position and decides takes refuge on his daughter Lucy's farm in the Eastern Cape. For a time, Lucy's influence and the natural rhythms of the farm promise to harmonise his discordant life. Yet the balance of power in the country is shifting and the aftermath of a vicious attack on the farm, he is forced to come to terms with more than his disgrace alone.