When her parents pass away during a skirmish, Hiền moves to the countryside and lives with her uncle, supporting his beverage stall by the river day by day. Admired by many for her beauty, she rejects many suitors, until a fateful encounter with a dashing young sublieutenant changes her life upside down.

Wishing to turn over a new leaf, a reformed gangster reluctantly agrees to take on one last deal to earn some money that will let him settle down.

After a series of misfortunes, a good-natured young man descends into violence and becomes one of the most notorious gangsters in 1970s Saigon.

When her parents struggle to make ends meet in Saigon, a young woman quits school to work as a nightclub dancer and is later banished from home for losing her virginity. Slowly, she descends into hedonism and self-destruction.

A doctor is distraught to find out the newly-admitted patient in his shift is the daughter of his childhood sweetheart.