Patricia and Richard Wiley, two older white South Africans, live on many acres of farmland in KwaZulu-Natal. They are planning on leaving the next day for Durban, a seaside city, where there is another property that belongs to Patricia via her late father. Patricia has sold the farmland to developers and wishes to spend her twilight years in the Durban house by the sea. She has a very unhappy marriage with Richard, for not only does he currently have dementia, but he has always been callous, lazy, and arrogant. Also at the farmhouse are Bheki, the black driver and handyman of sorts, and Beauty, the black housemaid who also acts as a nurse to Richard. They are planning on going to Durban as well.
The novel begins with Patricia contemplating her last day and night at the farmhouse. She pays a visit to her lover, John Ford, the retired headmaster of the local school. They had been conducting their affair for over thirty years, though they had not been intimate for fifteen of them; it seems to Patricia that his late wife has only gained in saintliness over the years, and it is tough to read John’s feelings sometimes. Before she leaves, he gives her a letter that he tells her to read only when she gets to Durban.
In the evening, Richard wanders off into the property. Through Richard's addled thoughts, the reader discerns he is planning on digging up the grave of the only child he and Patricia had: a baby girl named Rachel, who was born dead. He does not locate the grave, accidentally digging up a dog grave instead. Patricia sends Beauty and Bheki out into the darkness to look for him.
In the meantime, Patricia receives a visitor. Looksmart is a well-dressed, successful black man who was born to one of Patricia and Richard’s employees years ago. Patricia loved him from the moment he was born and treated him like a son, even though, as he grew older, their relationship grew a little more complicated. She helped him get into Ford’s school and nurtured his intellectual and creative growth. At nineteen, he left, and she was never sure why.
Looksmart has resented Patricia for years, resenting what he saw as her superior attitude and the complicated nature of their biracial, post-apartheid-era relationship. He has come with his long-nurtured hate to call her attention to the reality of something that happened on the farm many years ago, and which precipitated his abrupt departure. He intends to challenge Patricia’s hazy memories of the event and to force her to apologize and feel the guilt he believes she needs to feel. He also plans to tell her he is part of the development company that has bought the land and that he is looking forward to razing most of it.
Their encounter in the farmhouse sitting room is at times awkward, uncomfortable, tense, emotional, and confusing. Looksmart asks Patricia to recall the death of Grace, Beauty’s older sister, many years ago. All Patricia remembers is that the girl apparently provoked one of the dogs and it attacked her and she died. Looksmart explains that Richard actually raped Grace, Beauty discovered it, and when Grace ran away, Richard let the dog loose on her. Looksmart was in love with Grace at the time and they were planning on telling Patricia that they wanted to get married. This was so traumatic for Looksmart that he left the farm.
They call in Beauty who hesitantly confirms the story. Patricia eventually comes to acknowledge this as truth, and that perhaps she had a role to play in the tragedy even though she did not understand it. She and Looksmart tentatively come to a sort of tacit understanding about their difficult shared past; they cannot change anything, but they know they did love each other. She is even pleased to hear about his role in the development company and does not seem to mind that the whole landscape will be altered. After several hours, Looksmart departs.
Later, Patricia questions Beauty further. Beauty reveals that Grace did not really love Looksmart, but Beauty did not want to destroy the man’s illusions by saying that earlier. She explains Grace often had sex with Richard because he gave her money and she was just trying to survive. Most terribly, Grace was pregnant with Richard’s child and he did not want her to have it. When she insisted she would, he set the dog on her. Patricia is shocked to hear this truth, but it makes sense to her.
When Richard comes back to the house, he and Patricia have words. She is upset that he tried to dig up Rachel, and she accuses him of murdering Grace. He says that is a lie and curses her. She screams for him to get out of her sight, and she wishes Looksmart were back.
The next morning, the police summon Patricia to John Ford’s house. It appears he committed suicide, and he left a note telling his secretary not to disturb Patricia with the news. The secretary tells Patricia that John was dying of cancer. Patricia is horrified; she considers staying on for the funeral and delaying the move to Durban, but eventually she realizes she does not want to deal with this situation. She later reads John’s letter, which he obviously wrote knowing what he was going to do, and she wonders if she ever really knew him.
In the morning, Richard, Patricia, Beauty, and Bheki prepare to depart. Patricia has had Bheki dig up Rachel’s coffin and safely place it in a small trunk that she will have buried at a church in Durban. Though no one else knows it yet, Bheki is not planning on living in Durban. He spoke with Looksmart when the younger man was there the prior evening, and Looksmart told him not to linger with the whites: if he were to stay on, he’d give him a job.
Patricia asks Beauty one more time about the event in the past, particularly why she didn’t say anything. Beauty explains that she was young and needed a job here. Patricia sighs and tells her that she is going to put Richard in a home when they get to Durban.
In the final scene, Bheki is driving the car away from the property and Looksmart is driving his car to the property when they cross paths. Patricia has Bheki toss the keys to him. Neither Patricia nor Looksmart says much, even though the air is electric with emotion.
