David Lurie is a professor of Communications at Cape Technical University in Cape Town, South Africa. He is a middle aged man, twice-divorced, living alone. He finds no pleasure in his work.
He is a lonely man, and finds pleasure in going to a prostitute every week. One day he sees the woman, Soraya, in the city with her two sons, and shortly after that the prostitute stops working at the brothel where David frequented. He is now left alone and lonely.
David is a man who has had more than his share of women in his life. Most of these women have been strangers, one-time affairs that ended as quickly as they started. David pursues one of his young students, Melanie Isaacs. He sleeps with her on several occasions, despite her protests and complete lack of interest in him. He finds her exciting and doesn't really think about how she feels. Melanie, with the urging of her family and her boyfriend, files an official complaint against David with the University. David is given the chance to save his job by apologizing and taking the blame for what he did. When he is unwilling to do so, his only other option is to leave the university for good.
David goes to live temporarily with his daughter from his first marriage, Lucy.
As David arrives on the farm, he begins to help out with the daily chores. He sees that his daughter is a country woman, despite himself being a city man. Lucy's neighbor is Petrus, a black man who was once her employee but has now bought a piece of land next to her and is a true landowner. David marvels at how the times have changed in South Africa with blacks and whites. One day, Lucy's farm is attacked by three men who take a lot of her belongings, set David on fire, and brutally rape Lucy.
This incident leaves David shaken to the core, and Lucy in a state of disbelief.
Lucy, however, does not tell the police about the rape, and keeps it to herself. She believes that in some