贝克(马修·麦康纳 Matthew McConaughey 饰)是一名渔船船长,生活在风平浪静的海边,每天都过着规律而重复的生活。曾经,贝克有过一段失败的婚姻,时至今日,这段婚姻还如同乌云一般笼罩在他的头上,他始终都没能够忘记前妻凯伦(安妮·海瑟薇 Anne Hathaway 饰)。 让贝克没有想到的是,有一天,自己朝思暮想的凯伦竟然真的出现在了自己的眼前。可是,凯伦却提出了一个让贝克大跌眼镜的请求,那就是委托贝克杀死自己的现任丈夫弗兰克(杰森·克拉克 Jason Clarke 饰)。原来,弗兰克是一个性格恶劣脾气爆裂的男人,凯伦实在无法忍受日日受欺压的生活了,才出此下策。面对前妻声泪俱下的请求,贝克会做出怎样的回答呢?
Two hundred years after Mary Shelley's novel the brilliant but mad Doctor (Thomas Kretschmann) has sustained his creature and himself over two centuries through genetic experimentation. In present-day America Detective O'Connor (Parker Posey) is investigating a series of horrific murders which leads her to the doctor and his creature. What she uncovers reveals the strange evolution the doctor and his creation undergo over the course of two centuries and the divergent paths creator and monster take in pursuing good or evil. 在玛丽·雪莱的小说两百年后,才华横溢但疯狂的医生使他自己和他的怪物从两个世纪前的当初的实验一直幸存下来。如今,美国探员 O'Connor 在调查系列谋杀案时,被引向了医生和他的怪物,并揭露出在长达两个多世纪的漫长岁月中,医生和他作品间的奇特演变和他们踏上善与恶的不同道路。