An unknown man arrives in the windswept town of Paternoster on the South African Atlantic West Coast. Stranded in the dark mire of a secret past, the mystery of who the man is, why his presence is feared, and what purpose he brings to the town, all combine to make a faceted elegiac and moving film of betrayal, resolution and revenge. Granted amnesty for crimes committed in the past, ex-South African cop Tertius Coetzee still feels shackled by the sheer weight of his sins. An unrelenting quest for closure plunges the family of one of his victims into a furnáce of personal emotion. Inclined at first to drive Coetzee away, the family becomes involved in a plot to keep him in the town to avenge the death of their son.Their quest triggers the road-trip of three friends equally intent on revenge. The film′s classic Western-type damaged anti-hero draws all who confront him into a morally ambiguous universe where murder offers release and betrayal points the way to freedom.