The film depicts interconnected lives of various characters in South Vietnam in and after the war: a young girl (Mai) who lost her father (Hau)- a Viet Cong cadre; a woman (Nam) whose deceased husband is a South Vietnamese soldier has feelings for Hau and is trying to protect his daughter; a depressive man (Luong) who used to fight with Nam's husband has strong resentment towards his old army.

In a time of chaos and conflicts, a talented musician falls in love with an upper-class royal mandarin.

On May 1, 1975 with Viet Cong troops march through Saigon celebrating their victory. Tham, caretaker of Victory Hotel, a relatively small establishment in downtown Saigon, nervously observes these celebrations. The owners have fled Saigon and the hotel is to be requisitioned by the new government. Tham wonders what his fate will be under the new regime. The next day he is told that that the hotel is to be transformed into a collective flat for the Viet Cong cadre and their families now entering the city. Tham is not hostile to this but is concerned about his place in the new set up. Will he still have a job? Will he be treated as an enemy?

Sinh lives in an alley with her elderly mother and Hà, her daughter. When Toàn, an engineer, moves in with them, the mother-daughter relationship becomes tested

A Korean writer travels to Vietnam to do research for her story about a cursed portrait of a Vietnamese girl named Muoi.

In hopes of getting her family out of poverty, 17-year-old Mai follows a neighbour's offer and leaves her small fishing village in Central Vietnam to work as a seamstress in Saigon, not knowing her neighbour had sold her into prostitution, and a grisly fate awaits her upon arrival.

While awaiting the return of her husband from the war to no avail, a woman gradually finds herself charmed by a newly arrived engineer.