
After years teaching Romantic poetry at the Technical University of Cape Town David Lurie middle-aged & twice divorced has an impulsive affair with a student The affair sours; he is denounced & summoned before a committee of inquiry Willing to admit his guilt but refusing to yield to pressure to repent publicly he resigns & retreats to his daughter Lucy&s isolated smallholding For a time his daughter&s influence & the natural rhythms of the farm promise to harmonise his discordant life But the balance of power in the country is shifting He & Lucy become victims of a savage & disturbing attack which brings into relief all the faultlines in their relationship