Eighteen years after Jake (Temuera Morrison) and Beth (Rena Owen) were married, Beth still finds him irresistible. Jake is a muscular, handsome man who exudes sexual energy. But he spends most of his time in the bar demanding respect and becoming drunk and violent.
Beth struggles to keep her family together, though the violence takes its toll - one son has joined a vicious gang, the other has been taken to a welfare home - but she remains faithful to Jake. Still untouched is Grace, the beautiful teenaged daughter, a gifted writer and thinker and the most vulnerable member of the family.
What happens to her changes the family's life forever. Beth will at last be forced to make a choice and to seek a new alternative for her own survival.