Set in 1981, this "on the road" movie centers an ex-Viet Cong soldier's commitment to return the cremated ashes of his former army comrade to his birthplace for burial. Starting his journey via train, the Army veteran meets a small-time trader. but then gets separated from him as well as from the rucksack containing the cremated ashes. He enlists a motorcyclist to pursue the train, but the trader, suspected of carrying contraband goods, has switched to a bus and then to hitchhiking. The trader inadvertently switches bags with a female Vietnamese soldier, so the two men must then pursue her upriver to Hanoi.