A Vietnamese writer tells the story, set in Hanoi, of a publishing executive and novelist named Khiem who is cursed with a blatantly unfaithful wife. The bright spot in his life is Hoan, the woman who has recently become his lover after long years of discretion. When both he and Hoan are fired after one of Kheim`s novels proves too inflammatory, his life spirals into trauma and horror as they try to survive in a society in transition.