Coleman Silk is a worldly and admired professor who loses his job after unwittingly making a racial slur. To clear his name, Silk writes a book about the events with his friend and colleague Nathan Zuckerman, who in the process discovers a dark secret Silk has hidden his whole life. All the while, Silk engages in an affair with Faunia Farley, a younger woman whose tormented past threatens to unravel the layers of deception Silk has constructed.
Anthony Hopkins
as Coleman Silk
Nicole Kidman
as Faunia Farley
Ed Harris
as Lester Farley
Gary Sinise
as Nathan Zuckerman
Wentworth Miller
as Young Coleman Silk
Jacinda Barrett
as Steena Paulsson
Harry Lennix
as Mr. Silk
Clark Gregg
as Nelson Primus
Anna Deavere Smith
as Mrs. Silk
Lizan Mitchell
as Ernestine
Phyllis Newman
as Iris Silk
Margo Martindale
as Psychologist
