It is 1936. As they have done every summer, the Hopkins family ¿ Derek and Lorna and the three children ¿ have rented a house at the Beach. But Lorna is bored and only sees her husband on the weekends. When the handsome James Clements gets the locals and the Maoris involved in his amateur western, `Lust in the Dust,¿ Lorna plays the whore with the heart of gold. The film¿s title proves disturbingly prophetic and old certainties fall away as unaccustomed proximity leads to unexpected liaisons.