Dawan is a young village girl who harbours the dream of getting out of her village in the lure of the bright lights in the big city, and to do so, has to fight customs and tradition that girls are meant to be bethroned away early at a young age to someone they loathe, and schools for them are an unnecessary part of life. In order to fulfill her dream, she has to go against the wishes of her dad, as well as irk her brother as she out-scores him in a local examination to clinch a scholarship. Also, their village is under threat of an unscrupulous landlord trying to bulldoze his way into profits by driving everyone out of his land.
Mel has a successful life. It all changes when her fiancé, Joe, is involved with another woman. She changes drastically and had all her friends worried. They decide to introduce Mel to Are, a book store owner and brownies baker. When Mel and Are fall in love, Joe reappears and tries to reclaim his love for Mel.
Bulan is a street hawker whose parents were killed during the Bali Bombing in 2002. A talented sculptor, she secretly carves a statue inside a cave that she names the Angel's Cry. She gives the statue as a gift to her friend, Kevin, a mixed Balinese Caucasian, who wants to help by displaying the sculpture at his father’s gallery. An Australian tourist buys the statue and more so Bulan’s secret talent is revealed. The success brings a dramatic turn to her life and Kevin’s parents also adopt her.
The poet Ibrahim Kadir plays himself in a political drama about his arrest and incarceration in Aceh in the 1960s. Kadir survived the mass murder of suspected communists by the Indonesian government that cost between 500,000 and two million lives.
Johan Ten Berghe joins the Dutch army when the Dutch East Indies unilaterally declare independence as Indonesia. He initiates his naive driver Twan in life in the East, having grown up there as son of colonial official Hendrik, now missing. Their adventures intertwine with Johan's childhood memories, especially concerning his native best friend, Oeroeg, who joined the rebellion, as well as their nanny and later de facto stepmother. Conflicting loyalties become tangible in extreme situations
