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A man with a troubled past becomes the prime suspect in a small-town murder case. Adapted from the novel by Patricia Highsmith, The Cry of the Owl tells the tale of Robert Forrester (Paddy Considine), a man who flees from the city and his marriage in search of solitude. Eventually, Robert winds up in a quaint community and becomes drawn to Jenny (Julia Stiles), a pretty local whose simple existence holds a unique appeal to the former big-city dweller. When Jenny notices Robert peering in through her kitchen window, she senses that he doesn't mean her harm and strikes up a conversation. Suspicious of the mysterious newcomer's motivations and jealous of the attention his girlfriend is getting, Jenny's boyfriend Greg (James Gilbert) launches an obsessive campaign to humiliate and destroy Robert. After a heated confrontation Greg goes missing, and the authorities begin looking to Robert for answers. Now the higher the stakes get, the more Robert begins to suspect that he's being set up to take a big fall.