Agence Intergouvernementale de la Francophonie (AIF-CIREF)

The sole pleasure of Ala, a literature professor and poetry lover, is to share drunkenness with poets. «The Epistle of Mercy», a work about Heaven and Hell, written nearly a thousand years ago, is the subject of the day. In his inebriation, the waitress and bar owner become characters from this work.

Two boys (Tamir & Amine) awake one morning to find that their father has abandoned their family. Shocked, they begin to misbehave. While surreptitiously watching a movie, they think they see their father speaking to them and steal the film to examine the frames. Their mother (Achta) eventually despairs and sends them to Koranic school. Unhappy, they plan their escape until the eldest boy falls in love with a deaf girl (Khalil).

On May 1, 1975 with Viet Cong troops march through Saigon celebrating their victory. Tham, caretaker of Victory Hotel, a relatively small establishment in downtown Saigon, nervously observes these celebrations. The owners have fled Saigon and the hotel is to be requisitioned by the new government. Tham wonders what his fate will be under the new regime. The next day he is told that that the hotel is to be transformed into a collective flat for the Viet Cong cadre and their families now entering the city. Tham is not hostile to this but is concerned about his place in the new set up. Will he still have a job? Will he be treated as an enemy?

Hedi, a young man in his thirties, moves into an old apartment where he's going to make an amazing and life-changing discovery.