English Literature student Amy Chan starts a passionate affair with her professor, leading to a series of devastating events that change the course of her life and the lives of those around her.

Amy Chan is an eighteen-year-old Chinese university student living in the UK with her fierce mother and wayward older sister. She finds escape from troubles at home in her poetry and through attending classes run by the British professor Jeremy Watson. Amy grows close to her Chinese classmate John, bonding over their shared loneliness and family problems. In Amy's eyes, Jeremy's lecturer wife Erin is perfect - beautiful, intelligent and graceful. Jealous of Erin, she writes a love poem to Jeremy, and an attraction between the two develops. In the throes of a mid- life crisis, Jeremy allows Amy's infatuation to grow, leading to consequences beyond their control.