Trần Đức

Freshly graduated from college, Cuong enters an internship and is determined to make a career for himself without the help of his wealthy industrialist dad or the connections of his well-esteemed veteran grandpa. But when the sudden appearance of a hotshot candidate threatens to take away the dream job of his life, Cuong begins to have a change of heart.

In early 20th-century North Vietnam, an impoverished woman is chastised by her parents for giving birth out of wedlock and has to sell her baby to evade punishments from the villagers. No longer able to bear the agony, she flees her hometown to find the lover who has abandoned her. A series of misfortunes and violations afterwards soon push the woman into a circle of violence and treachery.

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.

The Vietnam War from the North's viewpoint. Air raids on Hanoi stiffen the resolve of the population to strike back against a far more powerful enemy.

Returning home from their touring opera troupe, actress Lanh has a rendezvous with her now-married former boyfriend, Phong, while leading-lady Xoan is about to be replaced by an understudy because of her pregnancy.