The film, based on the 2008 novel by Philip Roth, is set mostly in Winesburg, Ohio in the early 1950s, and stars Logan Lerman, Sarah Gadon, Tracy Letts, Linda Emond, and Danny Burstein.

His father, who runs a kosher butcher shop, is unnerved by the deaths in the war of boys like his son and becomes overwhelmed with paranoia.

The daughter of a Cleveland surgeon, Olivia is freethinking, sophisticated, and sexually frank, but also fragile and disturbed; she feels as alienated and out-of-place as Marcus.

As he and Olivia continue to have sexual relations without intercourse, he learns that she is a recovering alcoholic who had been previously enrolled at Mount Holyoke College.

Though the discussion is ostensibly about the change in his living situation, it becomes an interrogation about Marcus's atheist beliefs and his dislike of Winesburg's conservative culture.

The next day, Marcus's mother apologizes to him for oversharing her marital problems and promises not to divorce, but only if he ends his relationship with Olivia.

The school had been hesitant to accept her, given her history of electroshock therapy and relapses, but her father was an esteemed Winesburg alumnus who requested her admission.

[12] Indignation received positive reviews from film critics, with praise aimed at Schamus' direction and the performances (particularly Lerman's).

The site's critical consensus reads, "Indignation proves it's possible to put together an engaging Philip Roth adaptation—and offers a compelling calling card for debuting writer-director James Schamus.

[14] Peter Debruge of Variety gave the film a positive review, writing: "Schamus opted to make Philip Roth's 29th novel his own first feature, choosing an emotional and incredibly personal piece of material (it fictionalizes Roth's own early-'50s college experience) that adapts well to his polite, polished and reasonably old-fashioned aesthetic.