The president of a small village is appointed to be the minister for population planning, a controversial decision for the residents and his wife who is trying for another baby.

Hanoi comes across almost picture-perfect in director Tran Anh Hung's beautiful, elegiac tale about the lives and loves of three Vietnamese sisters. A mood characteristic of Hung's films is set early on with the vivid sounds of birds, insects and water and the way the lighting enhances the subtle use of color. They all combine to gem-like effect here.

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.

The battle for political power in the Trịnh clan continues after the death of Lord Trịnh Sâm in this sequel of "Night of Long Tri." The rivals are two famous concubines of Trịnh Sâm: Dương Thị Ngọc Hoan and Đặng Thị Huệ.

A poor carpenter hopes to secure a better life for his daughter by sending her to a college in Hanoi. As the university entrance exams approach, he is dead set on the ultimate mission: ward off anything - or anyone - that will distract the daughter from studying only.