1939, a funeral for Norman Bethune [Donald Sutherland] in China frames the narrative as journalist Chester Rice [Colm Feore] reads about his death in Canada, prompting Rice to recount the extensive research he undertook to understand Bethune’s extraordinary life and mission.
In 1938, Bethune travels to Hankou amid the turmoil of the Second Sino-Japanese War, determined to join the Eighth Route Army. His arrival is hindered by a bombed train carrying his medical supplies, so he and his translator Mr. Tung [James Pax], along with salvaged resources, press on by boat and on foot toward the army’s headquarters in Yan’an. Along the way, Bethune witnesses military actions, including an execution carried out by the National Revolutionary Army, and he admires the work of the People’s Liberation Army as described in his journal.
Once in the field, Bethune uses Frances Penny Bethune [Helen Mirren]’s inheritance to establish a medical practice that offers free care to those who cannot pay. Their marriage, already strained, buckles further when Frances reveals she is pregnant and later seeks an abortion while Bethune believes a child could anchor their relationship. His refusal to terminate the pregnancy sets Frances on a path away from him.
Bethune’s journey intersects with Dowd’s mission; though Missionary Veronica Dowd refuses to move Bethune’s supplies through her area, fearing repercussions from the Japanese and potential deportation, the two share a kiss after a shared dinner, signaling a complex personal entanglement amid war.
Earlier still, Bethune’s medical career takes shape in Canada and beyond. In 1927, he is hospitalized at the Trudeau Sanatorium with tuberculosis and desires a pneumothorax procedure that could cure him, but doctors refuse, fearing it could kill him. He performs the operation on himself, miraculously recovering, and later writes to Frances to return, leading to a remarriage. Under the tutelage of Clifford Archibald [Geoffrey Chater], Bethune trains as a surgeon, and his path crosses with Marie-France Coudaire [Anouk Aimée], whose presence deepens his personal and professional life. The clashes over his high casualty rates and the ethics of care intensify as Archibald challenges his pragmatic approach.
Bethune’s arrival in Yan’an earns Mao’s formal appointment of him as medical adviser to the Eighth Route Army and head of all hospital and medical units. He treats victims of a Japanese air raid, even as local residents hesitate to donate blood for the wounded. The overcrowded hospital and its ragged conditions starkly reveal the dire need for systemic reform, and Bethune openly denounces the prevailing incompetence among his staff, pushing for immediate and practical improvements.
His efforts position him as a vocal advocate for socialized medicine during the Great Depression. A tense meeting with Rice at an art exhibit leads to a heated interview in which Bethune critiques communism and casts a critical eye on the Soviet medical system, even as he later returns from a tour of the Soviet Union praising its approach to healthcare.
Newsreels from the Spanish Civil War fuel Bethune’s anti-fascist stance, and he embarks on speaking tours to condemn fascism and Canadian inaction. He travels to Spain to aid the Republicans, with Rice now serving as his medical assistant and political commissar. Rice’s mounting concerns about Bethune’s treatment of women and his drinking habits culminate in Bethune’s dismissal from the Republican side. Back home, Frances divorces him so she can marry Alan Coleman [Ronald Pickup].
As the war intensifies, Bethune establishes a frontline medical training facility near the fighting, a bold initiative that is ultimately destroyed by Japanese forces. In a moment of peril, Bethune sustains a cut on his finger during surgery and develops sepsis, a chain of events that intensifies the mounting supply shortages and the perilous conditions around the wounded. Dowd, continuing her controversial mission, secretly smuggles in supplies, but her operation is also toppled by Japanese attacks.
Bethune’s life comes to a poignant close as illness and battle fatigue overwhelm him, and his work is honored posthumously by Mao [Zhang Keyao], who eulogizes his dedication and vision for medical care in wartime China. The film paints a portrait of a physician driven by a belief in accessible, humane medicine set against the fog of war and shifting political tides.
