Julia Roberts star in 'The Secret in Their Eyes' trailer

Julia Roberts, Nicole Kidman and Chiwetel Ejiofor star in a first The Secret in Their Eyes trailer.

Roberts portrays an investigator whose teenage daughter is murdered, ostensibly by a young man who goes free. Ejiofor plays her FBI partner, who discovers a new lead 13 years later and tries to convince a district attorney (Kidman) to help solve the crime.

The preview sees Roberts' character take justice into her own hands and pursue the killer herself. Captain Phillips screenwriter Billy Ray directed the film, and told Yahoo! it was astonishing to watch the actress perform the emotionally taxing scenes.

"She was going to have to go to a place that was going to be very painful," he said of the moment when Roberts' character discovers her daughter's body. "It was completely staggering [when she completed it in two takes]. Nobody [on set] could believe what was going on."

The Secret in Their Eyes is based on the Eduardo Sacheri novel The Question in Their Eyes, which was previously adapted by Argentine director Juan Jose Campanella. The movie opens in theaters October 23, and also co-stars Dean Norris.