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.
A teenage girl is captured by a giant mutated squid-like creature that appears from Seoul's Han River after toxic waste was dumped in it, prompting her family into a frantic search for her.
A young man, whose only possession is a motorcycle, spends his time riding around the city looking for empty apartments. After finding one, he hangs out for a while, fixing himself something to eat, washing laundry or making small repairs in return. He always tries to leave before the owners get back but in one ostensibly empty mansion he meets the abused wife of a rich man and she escapes with him.
After fourteen years in Japan a small-time crook returns to his hometown.
Released after being wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for 13 years, a woman begins executing her elaborate plan of retribution.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Eunmi is preparing for the civil service exam at Noryangjin Academy, but her preparation does not seem to be smooth. Seemingly taciturn and somewhat daunting, she often opens her windpipe with light love and sex. Around that time, when she sees a man at a study group and develops a better relationship, strange rumors about him begin to circulate.
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.
An idle part-time college lecturer is annoyed by the yapping sound of a nearby dog. He decides to take drastic action.
Kwon, a language school instructor, stops by her old workplace and receives a thick envelope addressed to her. A Japanese instructor named Mori had proposed to her two years ago. She turned him down. Mori had immediately gone back to Japan, but now was back in Korea looking for her. The envelope enclosed letters he had written to her during his search through Seoul. After Kwon finishes the first letter in the lobby, she grows faint coming down the staircase and drops the letters. She gathers them off the floor and sees there are no dates on the letters. She now has no way of knowing the order in which they were written.
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.
On October 26, 1979, President Park Chung-hee, who had ruled South Korea since 1961, was assassinated by his director of intelligence. The film depicts the events of that night.
In 2029, an elite police squad combats an anti-reunification terrorist group while another enemy lurks nearby.
Seok-jin, a magician at a club, meets a mysterious woman, Ha-yeon, who soon becomes his assistant and fiance. Things take a turn when she is found dead and he must find out what happened.