Jane Campion's adaptation of Susanna Moore's best-selling, erotic thriller. Franny Avery (Meg Ryan) is a lonely, middle-class English professor living in New York and currently researching a book about language. One evening, whilst drinking in a bar with a student she witnesses an erotic act between a woman and a man with a tattoo on his arm. When a detective, Malloy (Mark Ruffalo), comes to Franny's flat to interview her after a woman's body was discovered in Franny's garden, she realises he was the man in the bar and there is an undeniable sexual chemistry between them. Encouraged by her sister (Jennifer Jason Leigh) Franny embarks on a passionate affair with Malloy and it begins to re-awaken her passion and take over her life. But the killer is still on the loose and amongst the suspects are Franny's ex-boyfriend (Kevin Bacon), who is stalking her, and a student of hers who delivers an essay about a serial killer...