In 1925, 17-year-old orphan Lucy Gladwell is sent from England to live under the guardianship of her uncle George Huyton. Initially seduced by the sumptuous beauty of her surroundings, Lucy finds herself at odds with her violent uncle who is not the benign influence he pretends to be, and she soon falls in love with Krishna, a laborer working on a nearby plantation.

David is a successful city trader in London who is relentlessly focused on work. Beneath the confident facade, he is trapped by memories of the past and hostile to anyone who dares to help. Flashbacks reveal a childhood in South Africa at the mercy of an inadequate bully of a father Donald and an ineffectual mother Joanne. The physical and sexual abuse he suffered threatens any chance of happiness he might have now.