E. Herawati

Adam, the mortuary officer in a hospital questions the idea of "identity" of a person, due to his own unknown past and his own lack of an identity. So he only feels alive when he is among dead people. Adam eventually falls in love with a woman without a name. Through her, he is able to find his true self and this leads him to fight for the woman’s right to live.

Ca Bau Kan relates the saga of Giok Lan, an Indonesian woman living in the Netherlands, who returns to Indonesia in search of her roots. Her mother, Tinung, a village woman, was known as ‘Ca Bau Kan’ – a word used to describe a courtesan who entertained Chinese men in colonial Indonesia. Giok Lan’s father, Tan Peng Liang (Ferry Salim), was an immigrant Chinese merchant who had a very successful tobacco business in Batavia. She becomes deeply involved with him, and causes a scandal when he has Tinung move in with his family. The film is set between 1930 and 1950, and unfolds the story of Giok Lan and her parents: Tinung and Tan Peng Liang where Tan is eventually ruined when his rivals begin to attack him. This is owing to the significant contrast in socio-economic and cultural background, as the love of these last two characters face a series of difficulties.