Drum has a violent childhood and his mother goes missing in the ocean when they try to escape from the village. Then a car hits his father in front of him while his Chinese girlfriend is killed in a riot. When he grows up, he works as a crime reporter and writes a novel that becomes a bestseller and is sought after by a student, Air Sunyi (Lola Amaria), for her thesis subject. Then Air contacts Drum, in his beach house. But then she gets tied up as apparently, Drum is using Air to find his mother's face. Air fights back and bites Drum's finger off. In the VCD, this particular scene is not shown due to censorship. The story ends when Air receives a package from Drum containing the novel, "Novel Tanpa Huruf R".
Mrs. Verdoorn
Ca Bau Kan relates the saga of Giok Lan, an Indonesian woman living in the Netherlands, who returns to Indonesia in search of her roots. Her mother, Tinung, a village woman, was known as ‘Ca Bau Kan’ – a word used to describe a courtesan who entertained Chinese men in colonial Indonesia. Giok Lan’s father, Tan Peng Liang (Ferry Salim), was an immigrant Chinese merchant who had a very successful tobacco business in Batavia. She becomes deeply involved with him, and causes a scandal when he has Tinung move in with his family. The film is set between 1930 and 1950, and unfolds the story of Giok Lan and her parents: Tinung and Tan Peng Liang where Tan is eventually ruined when his rivals begin to attack him. This is owing to the significant contrast in socio-economic and cultural background, as the love of these last two characters face a series of difficulties.
