After the Geneva Convention, Viet Minh cadres are gathered to the North. There are also many who secretly stayed. Among them is Robert Nguyen Thanh Luan. He returns to Vinh Long, part of the diocese of Bishop Peter Ngo Dinh Thuc, who has known his Catholic family for long. The bishop adopts him into the Ngo family, where he begins associating with Ngo Dinh Nhu, the Vice President and Presidential Consultant of the Republic of Vietnam.

In 1955 Tay Ninh, the National United Front is established and gives Ngo Dinh Diem's government an ultimatum: reform or attack. Luan continues to handle his new rise of popularity within sociopolitical circles in South Vietnam. He goes to Da Lat for a vacation, where a meeting between him and a young woman has been arranged.

An ex-fighter pilot renounces life and becomes a monk to seek salvation after the tragic death of his wife upon giving birth to a malformed fetus, which he blames on his mysterious illness. One day, a friend in combat visits him and sheds light on his miseries.

At the wedding of his rich friend, a man meets a charming and stylish woman who's known in Saigon high society as the daughter of an influential minister.