Working freely from Joseph Conrad's debut novel, Chantal Akerman tells the story of a Dutch trader in 1950s Malaysia whose dreams of a Western life for his daughter slowly lead to destruction. Almayer, the main character, married a captain's daughter with the idea of inheriting his fortune. Time went by and this fortune never arrived. Now, Almayer tries to live with his half Malay daughter. A story of passion, perdition and madness.