In the 1950s after the Korean War, a gentle wandering piper with a limp, Woo-ryong, and his sick young son, Young-nam, are en-route by foot to Seoul through the central Korean highlands when they reach a remote village. The village chief allows Woo-ryong and his son to stay at his house. The piper shows the Chief an English-written note (given to him by an American soldier) that is the name of an American doctor at a hospital in Seoul who can treat Young-nam. The Chief agrees (he can’t read English either) but tells Woo-ryong not to tell anyone else the war is over. Woo-ryong is smitten by a villager called Mi-sook who lost her husband and child in the war.