Max Morden is a retired art historian attempting to write a book about French painter Pierre Bonnard. Unable to cope with the recent death of his wife, Max retires to the seaside cottage where he spent a fateful childhood summer with the affluent Cedars family, whose matriarch he quietly pined for — and whose children possessed a troubling secret. When Max returns to the cottage the Cedars have long since vacated, he finds the estate is now looked after by Miss Vavasour. She witnesses Max's alcoholic descent into a private abyss, as he is haunted by unbearable losses that demand to be reckoned with. Adaptation of John Banville's beloved 2005 Man Booker Prize-winner