In 1980, the South Korean government sanctioned the horrific Kwangju massacre in which troops randomly slaughtered thousands of innocent people. As of 1996, when this film was made, the former president behind the killing, Chun Doo-Hwan was serving a death sentence. The story of this grim drama is set both before and after the tragedy and centers on an apparently mentally ill young woman who is desperately searching for her brother. One day, she meets a laborer and convinces him that they are related so that he will provide her with shelter. She follows him home and he brutishly rapes her. At the same time, her brother's friends are searching for her to tell her that her brother was killed during military training. Meanwhile the political unrest escalates.