At the beginning of the book, we are told that David is estranged from hsi daughter Lucy. After sexually harassing a young woman who is taking the class that he teaches at university, David takes a series of steps, which, rather than saving his job, guarantees that he loses it. He is forced into a corner, so he resigns and moves to Lucy's farm. It is a long way from Cape Town and his humiliation. The relationship between David and Lucy therefore changes from "estranged" to "housemates."

Later, Lucy and David are savagely attacked in their home after they allow three black men inside thinking that they wanted to use the phone. In the attack, Lucy is raped, David is set on fire, all the farm dogs are killed, and everything valuable in the house is stolen. A new wedge is driven between David and Lucy in the aftermath of this catastrophic event because Lucy refuses to report her rape to the police. She knows that it will have a negative effect on her position in the local farming community. This objection is highly ironic, given David's shameful departure from Cape Town.

The father and daughter have numerous arguments about this, but ultimately the novel ends with the two on civil terms. David, by the end of the novel, lives relatively near to Lucy and helps her work at a market in the weekends.