Coleman Silk (
Anthony Hopkins) is a distinguished professor at a prestigious New England college whose professional life is shattered by allegations of racism and whose personal life is infected with the cancer of a lie he has been living for fifty years.
His career and reputation in ruin, Silk begins a dynamic resurrection through two new relationships; one, a friendship with writer Nathan Zuckerman (Gary Sinise), whom he intrigues with his story, the other a scandalous affair with a young woman (Nicole Kidman).