In 1976, in rural South Africa, a family massacre takes place; a bloodbath whose only witness is a young black maid. Nearby is a state-owned school camp, run by Hendrik Deyer who lives on the grounds with his wife Petronella and their two sons, Werner and Marius. As Hendrik becomes obsessed with uncovering what happened, his wife worries about her neighbours, a poor white family whose malign influence on her son Werner is - she believes - making his behaviour inexplicably strange and hostile. One night another tragedy changes their lives, irrevocably.

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Two decades later, Werner is living with his mother and invalid father in a small Pretoria flat. South Africa is a changed place. Werner holds a tedious job in the administration department of the local university and dreams of opening his own gallery. His father is bedridden, hovering on the edge of death. As Werner feels his own life slip away his thoughts turn to murder as a means to correct the course of all their futures. It is not possible to undo what happened in 1976, but Werner's desperation to change his own his fate will threaten not only his family but also those still living in the aftermath of what happened all those years ago.