Defenders of the native land

An orphan left in the care of a Buddhist temple becomes attached to a young widow who arrives there to mourn her recently deceased son.

A tender hearted young noble man, Mong Ryong, falls in love with the famous Chun Hyang, the most beautiful girl of a Korean village, who is also a pure hearted artist but unfortunately from a humble family. This forbidden love yields a secret marriage which is doomed when Mong Ryong departs for Seoul to pass state exams and his absence lasts three years, during which no news is heard of him. Meanwhile, the arrival of an infamous new sheriff puts Chun Hyang in great peril when she refuses to break her marriage and obey the desires of the sheriff.

A group of boys decide to form a guerrilla unit in order to sabotage and spy on the American enemy after one of the communist-controlled cities falls to them.

Against the backdrop of the time when North Korea was fighting the war for the liberation of the Korean peninsula (1950-1953), the main character, Ok-khi Cho, participates in a guerrilla war in a village occupied by the American military.

Based on an old Korean legend about the tender and beautiful love of the poor girl Chun Hyang and the son of the formidable and cruel ruler Mong Nyoung.

The film tells the story of a newlywed couple working on the railroad (the husband is a train driver and his young wife works at a lathe) in a lyrical and poignant tone. Both have difficult personalities and their own views on life, but together they take an active part in the economic recovery of the country after the Korean War.