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.
알리샤는 대저택에 살고 있는 부호의 딸이지만, 외부세상과 격리된 채 자신이 아끼는 인형을 제외하고는 그 누구와도 정서적 교류를 하고 있지 않다. 그녀는 밤마다 자신이 어렸을 때 권총 자살한 어머니가 찾아오는 악몽에 시달리고 있다. 어느 날 저택의 수영장을 청소하러 온 바리의 모습을 보고 한 눈에 사랑에 빠지게 된 그녀는 집을 뛰쳐나와 바리가 살고 있는 아파트의 옆집으로 이사한다. 바리는 애인 렌타와 함께 살고 있으며, 아파트에 살고 있는 다양한 인물들을 소재로 소설을 쓰고 있다. 바리는 이웃들을 세밀하게 관찰하고 이야기를 풀어나가지만 소설의 결말을 맺지 못한다. 소설을 결말이 있지만 삶은 계속된다는 딜레마에 빠져있는 것이다. 바리는 알리샤에게 자신의 미완성 원고를 보여주고, 그 이후로 이웃들의 삶에 변화가 일어나기 시작한다. 영화 속의 아파트는 다양한 인물들이 모여 사는 축소된 세계이며, 이 폐쇄적 공간은 이제 완결된 바리의 소설로 변화된다.
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
