Thu lives in a village near the river with Lan, her single mother working as a fruit seller. Thu befriends a boy in the village, Đăng, who lost his mother at a young age and is thus mainly raised by his grandparents. As the two children bond, they find in each other the parental figures they have been longing for.

Hanh is a dutiful wife and school teacher in a rural Vietnamese village who appears to enjoy a happy marriage. Childless, she insists her husband Phoung, the local school headmaster, take a second wife to bear him a baby. But in the small village, their secret is impossible to keep for long.

To avoid an arranged marriage, Trieu Phu fakes an illness, only to be cared for by his high school rival, Thanh Tam. As love blooms, they must defy his family's strict opposition and a mysterious spiritual omen that demands a split.

As French colonial rule reaches a violent end in Vietnam, a 12 year old boy makes a treacherous journey in search of his estranged father.