The film stars McGregor, Jennifer Connelly, Dakota Fanning, Peter Riegert, Rupert Evans, Uzo Aduba, Molly Parker and David Strathairn.

In 1996, at the 45th-year reunion of the class of '51 at Weequahic High School in Newark, New Jersey, writer Nathan Zuckerman meets one of his old friends, Jerry Levov.

They talk about Jerry's older brother, former all-state star athlete Seymour "Swede" Levov, class of '44, who recently died after a long illness.

The story moves back to a young Swede persuading his father, glovemaking magnate Lou Levov, to let him marry his high school sweetheart, New Jersey's 1947 Miss America contestant Dawn Dwyer.

They have a daughter, Meredith ("Merry"), and settle in the town of Old Rimrock, where they acquire a farm, with Swede commuting the 30 miles to the Newark glove factory.

By the time Merry reaches high school, she has become increasingly radicalized towards anarchism, as the Vietnam War rages, and frequently goes to New York City to take part in antiwar protests.

Merry disappears, and is the FBI's prime suspect, though Swede and Dawn believe she is innocent or, if involved, being forced to act by older radicals she met in New York.

As the mourners are leaving, a cleaned up middle-aged Merry arrives, silently passing her uncle and mother as she walks to Swede's grave.

[6][7] Later, Paramount Pictures acquired the rights, and in May 2012, Fisher Stevens was hired to direct John Romano's adapted script, with Sidney Kimmel Entertainment attached as financier and producer along with Lakeshore.

[8] On August 6, Dakota Fanning was added to the cast of the film to play the daughter, Merry Levov, the role once set for Wood.

The site's critical consensus reads, "American Pastoral finds debuting director Ewan McGregor's reach exceeding its grasp with a well-intentioned Philip Roth adaptation that retains the form, but little of the function, of its source material.