In this Korean omnibus film, three stories and relationships between the North and South are explored - stories about a hopeless romance, an unknown future and an expected and coincidental comfort.
After fourteen years in Japan a small-time crook returns to his hometown.
Three friends from the northern half of Seoul move to the more affluent southern half, but experience many troubles there.
An idle part-time college lecturer is annoyed by the yapping sound of a nearby dog. He decides to take drastic action.
Mr. Kim is jobless, lost in debt and has been dumped by his girlfriend. He decides to end it all by jumping into the Han River - only to find himself washed up on a small, mid-river island. He soon abandons thoughts of suicide or rescue and begins a new life as a castaway. His antics catch the attention of a young woman whose apartment overlooks the river. Her discovery changes both their lives.
A well-meaning but politically naive barber gets pulled into the inner circle of the South Korean dictator Park Chung-Hee, with rather baleful consequences for his hapless family. This sharp political satire covers roughly twenty years in South Korean political history, from the viewpoint of the barber's son.
Jeong-eun is embarrassed that her mother, who is suffering from dementia, wants to meet and call her sister from who was separated with due to the Korean War. However, Jeongeun accidentally receives a wrong call from a North Korean woman and is asked a favor.
After 1988 Seoul Olympic, Ji Kang-heon, who is sentenced for 7 years, and other inmates escape from the police van. After escaping, Ji Kang-heon and inmates make the entire Seoul under fear while they hold hostages.
Four brothers and the inevitable clash between their lives in modern day Seoul.
seg.1) Jong-soo misses his roomate Yeong-joo, who is gone. He's embarassed he misses someone who wasn't even his lover, but a close roomate. Meanwhile, Yeong-joo knew this day would come. seg.2) Min-ha is full of vitality. Ki-cheol lives in the greenhouse built by her. They've lived together for almost three years. One day Ji-hye bumps in between them. seg.3) Lovers Yoon and Cheol decide to spend a day up in the mountains. However, Yoon suddenly pours her heart out on all the things she was upset about at Cheol. seg.4) Sang-won is working at an electronics department and having a secret relationship with an elderly woman who is from the store across. As spring approaches Sang-won starts to feel weak. seg.5) One warm afternoon, Min-jae the chef was taking a nap and Ji-hong woke him up. seg.6) Byeong-goo, a former boxer has been caught in a punch-drunk. Byeong-Gu realizes he doesn't have much time life and starts boxing again.
Jin-a, a young prostitute, moves into a seaside motel called the Birdcage Inn, run by a dysfunctional family. Struggling with her circumstances and the family's treatment, she forms an unlikely bond with the daughter, Hye-mi. As they navigate love, betrayal, and personal growth, their friendship ultimately leads to a deeper understanding and a chance for redemption.
In revenge for her husband's infidelity, a young beautiful housewife, Mi-heun, starts an affair with an attractive young doctor, In-gyu. Despite her husband's efforts to regain her love and the disapproval by the conservative little town, Mi-huen gradually finds happiness and satisfaction in the affair and decides to turn her back on her quiet life.
Yu-ra yearns for money and fame while Jun wants to go back to his hometown. Yu-ra scolds Jun. Jun helps Yu-ra in her efforts to become a star. In her reach for stardom, Yu-ra is unaware that a person is helping her out from behind the scenes.
In 1987 Korea, under an oppressive military regime, a college student gets killed during a police interrogation involving torture. Government of officials are quick to cover up the death and order the body to be cremated. A prosecutor who is supposed to sign the cremation release, raises questions about a 21-year-old kid dying of a heart attack, and he begins looking into the case for truth. Despite a systematic attempt to silence everyone involved in the case, the truth gets out, causing an eruption of public outrage.
An oriental doctor Kim Hak-gyu is a cantankerous man who is the longest-term householder in a small village in Seoul. He often causes domestic trouble by being nasty to his wife and his children. Kim Hyeon-ok, a daughter of a young widow who runs Nahana Beauty Shop, is in love with Choi Du-yeol, an obstetrician across the street. Kim Hak-gyu has great distaste for western medicine, and at the same time, is jealous of the obstetrician. He always gets in the way of Choi Du-yeol. Kim's son, Hyeon-gu, dates Jeom-ryae, a daughter of a bar owner.
Min-Soo is a playboy who can't tolerate long term relationships. However, fate takes him to beautiful Hye-Won. While, Min-Soo becomes totally captivated by Hye-Won, Hye-Woon tries to resist Min-Soo, fearing their love will be shortened by her terminal illness.
Set in the late 15th century during the reign of King Yeonsan, two male street clowns and tightrope walkers, Jangsaeng and Gong-gil, are part of an entertainer troupe. Their manager prostitutes the beautiful Gong-gil to rich customers, and Jangsaeng is sickened by this practice. After Gong-gil kills the manager in defense of Jangsaeng, the pair flee to Seoul, where they form a new group with three other street performers.
Three grown sons have struggled to achieve some sort of normal routine after their father was sent off to prison for sexual assault on an underaged girl. Their lives are thrown into radical disarray when dad finishes his time and returns to the family home. The fact that the victim’s father is awaiting the return outside their door with a knife is certainly not any help to their situation... but it’s not like things are going so well otherwise, with the three sons, a virtual compendium of sexual dysfunctions in their own right.
An aspiring singer Sun-deok is visited by her mother, whom she hasn’t spoken to in years. The abrupt encounter leads to the news of her younger sister Yuri, who had vanished with their savings. The mother-daughter team is now hunting for the missing girl and their money, poking around in Itaewon, the international hub of Seoul. Little do they know that soon they will be faced with Yuri’s unlikely secrets.
Two spies share a secret bond, despite their loyalties. A North Korean assassin is sent to Seoul to kill a dissident, but instead he teams up with a South Korean agent in search for revenge.