Toward the end of 1946, residents from all walks of Hanoi struggle to avoid—and eventually accept—the possibility of a full-blown war.

In the spring of 2005, a mother living in Hanoi receives a diary of her late daughter, a young doctor working at a field hospital during the war. Kept for over thirty years by an American veteran, the diary is an account of her life spanning two years, from April 1968 until her death in June 1970.

At the close of the Sino-Vietnamese border war, a journalist travels to Lạng Sơn in northern Vietnam—the hometown of his former girlfriend—to report on the situation there.

阿华在一家艺术学院做人体模特，为人忠厚老实、心地善良，深得周围邻居的好评。阿华总是喜欢到他小时候居住过的房子外面看他种的番石榴树，一天他抑制不住翻墙进到院子里，并爬上树摘下了一颗番石榴。阿华的行为被院子的新主人阿兰发现，她把阿华当作了小偷，于是报了警。 联防队员将阿华押进了警察局，阿华的妹妹阿苏到警察局认领他。阿苏来到阿兰家，向阿兰讲述了哥哥的事情。原来小时候他们兄妹三人和父母居住在这个院子里，他们的父亲是名律师，阿华亲手在院中种下了这棵番石榴树。13岁那年阿华从树上掉了下来，摔坏了头，从此智力停留在13岁儿童的阶段。后来国家对私有住房进行改革，父亲将这个他亲自设计并监督建造的院子贡献给了国家，一家人搬了出来。阿华心中一直非常怀念过去的日子，每月初一都会为已经过世的父母祭拜，同时他也一直挂念那棵他亲手栽种的番石榴树，因此经常到这里来看它。 阿兰被阿华感动，她邀请阿华到家中来做客，并安排阿华住在了这里。很快，阿兰的父母从外省市做生意回来，父亲对阿华这名不速之客感到厌恶。 阿华给了和自己一起做模特的阿娥一些钱让她给母亲治病，这一举动被阿兰的父亲看到。他对阿华的成见越来越深，于是打电话叫精神病医院的人到家中把阿华强行带走。阿兰和阿苏来到医院接出了阿华，此刻阿苏发现阿华已经不再是以前的他，阿华变得少言寡语，对于以前的事情也完全记不清了。阿苏把阿华接到自己家中，和丈夫一起照看他。阿兰对阿华的遭遇感到十分内疚。 阿苏来到阿兰家，却发现阿兰全家已经搬走。邻居告诉阿苏，阿兰的父亲为了停车将番石榴树锯倒，阿兰为此和父亲大吵了一架。阿苏站在院子外，心情久久无法平静……

The dynamics of a Vietnamese rural village change when an urban woman returns to the village she originally belonged to and begins a love triangle.

In the final days of the war, Duyen faces a daily struggle to take care of her young son and ailing father-in-law, all the while hiding from them the fact that her husband has recently been killed in battle.