Nai Khanomtom was born in Kum village, near the Burmese border. While he was still a young boy, his village was attacked by the Burmese soldiers, and he fled with his older sister, Aei. Tired of running Aei was caught, raped and killed by the invaders. Khanomtom alone escaped, and came back to the village just in time to cry and hold the bodies of his butchered parents, Kerd and Eee, before they were cremated along with dozens of his country folks. Following the last order he received from his father Kerd, Khanontom goes to the Pekka Temple, in the mountains, to live with the monk Kong.