Indonesian activist Soe Hok Gie experiences a political awakening during the tumultuous regimes of Soeharto and Soekarno.

Theo Staats arrives at his uncle's rubber plantation in 'Our' Indies, The Emerald Belt. He meets Ems, the beautiful singer of the club, and falls head over heels for her. Ems, who comes from a poor Indonesian-European family, does not want to betray her Dutch husband, to whom she owes her status, but she cannot suppress her feelings. The Emerald Belt follows their passionate affair for ten years: from 1939, when the Dutch are carefree and enjoying their colonial power; through the Japanese invasion in 1942 and the difficult war years that will separate the lovers; to the struggle that led to Indonesian independence in 1949, when they are faced with a new choice.