It is the 1930s and Professor Roh, a world-renowned archaeologist from Germany comes to a deserted beach in the South Chungchong Province. Old and ill, he has returned to his hometown. His once grand estate is now in ruins. The memories of his childhood, mother and father, Young-ae, his love, are his only escape from his old and shabby present. The beautiful sorceress of the village hands out despair and the rag-like lepers appear to be his reflections. A portrait of life's fragility and longing is painted through the contrast between the past and the present, life and death, beauty and ugliness.