A soldier returns home from his tour of duty only to find that many things have changed in his small town. Rootless, he joins up with a local triad boss and his mistress, who seem like the ideal new family, but all will not end well in this critique of Korean society. "Lee's sense of his characters as unwitting victims of the moral/economic/architectural climate they live in is anchored in brilliantly judged imagery and in an acute sensitivity to ambiguities of mood and feeling." Trivia; Lee Chang-dong, whose films are always well received by the critics, served as South Korean Minister of Culture and Tourism from 2003-4!!!