Cambodia. The time is 1972. At the height of the Pacific War, a US aircraft crashes into Cambodian mountains. The survivor is immediately taken prisoner by the local villagers. But the guy is Black... For the naïve, mesmerized young child telling this story, the man's nationality, race and language don't make him an enemy or a stranger, but merely an animal that needs to be taken care of. Rithy Panh brings this story into his native land -The little Cambodian child from the ricefields, who's responsible for guarding the prisoner, is already sucked in by the Khmer Rouge ideology. Across the border, in Vietnam, war is raging and US fighters fly over his country to bomb Vietnam. Will the child be able not to kill the black man - the enemy?

The dawn of the XXth century: L'Apollonide, a house of tolerance, is living its last days. Between men who fall in love and the ones who become viciously harmful, the girls share their daily secrets and pains under the scrutiny of Madame Marie-France.

Wang Han, 11 year old boy in the province of Ghizhou is confronted with a runaway murderer. Hiding in the woods, the wounded man takes Wang Han drying shirt and persuades him to help him out. Frightened and fascinated at once, Wang Han and his friends accept to keep it secret from the police. Strange things are happening at school and the police is everywhere...