Baek Ok-hwa

A disillusioned Seoul woman visits a remote island to reconnect with a childhood friend, only to find her trapped in an oppressive cycle of physical, mental, and sexual abuse. As tensions escalate, the situation spirals into a harrowing tale of survival and retribution.

Based on the long running play by Jang Jin, the story is set in Korea during the Korean War in 1950. Soldiers from both the North and South, as well as an American pilot, find themselves in a secluded and naively idealistic village, its residents unaware of the outside world, including the war.

The citizens of Gwangju lead a relatively peaceful life, until one day the military takes over the city, accusing the residents of conspiracy and claiming that they are communist sympathisers preparing a revolution against the current government. Seeing as the soldiers beat defenceless people, mainly students, to death, the citizens are in for retaliation and form a militia.

Won-young is at the center of a dog-eat-dog world where the only thing that matters is where you are in the social hierarchy. Won-young revels in his perverse sexual appetites and beats Gyu-nam who is abandoned by society. But for Gyu-nam, Won-young is the only person who even acknowledges him so he remains, as he himself acknowledges, Won-young's faithful dog.