Thang is a Hanoi intellectual and graduates from university with high distinction causing his former teacher, Dao, to invite him to work in a mathematics institute of odd algorithms. He has problems because of his personality and refuses to give up his mathematical perspectives. He distinguishes himself as a person of integrity, which also causes problems for him.

A woman's husband wants a divorce, but she refuses and forges a forbidden romance with a brother-in-law.

After a streak of betrayals in love, a scholar harbours a disdain for women and vows to stay away from their “venomous nature”. However, he soon grows increasingly obsessed with a prostitute he encountered one night, and falls deeply in love with her against the prejudices of his social class.

Leaving their village to earn a living in the big city, Tham and Quy's relationship soon suffers in the face of impoverished conditions.