Eternity

A visiting young man arrives in a Burmese village and a beautiful woman slips into his bedroom to seduce him. She suddenly leaves when loud screams erupt from outside, frightening him and the locals. The moment hints at secrets behind the village’s peaceful facade.

The next day the young man asks Thip about the screams. Thip recounts the tale of Yupadee and Sangmong, Ni Han's former wife and nephew. The story links the mysterious noises to a forbidden romance that changed two lives forever.

Sangmong is described as Ni Han's ward, educated and conservative, living a quiet, bookish life. Ni Han, a notorious womaniser, tries to push him toward manhood by taking him to a brothel, hoping to unleash his desires. Sangmong refuses the advances, insisting he will marry only after reaching maturity.

While in Bangkok at an international sport club, Ni Han meets a widow named Yupadee and marries her. Returning to the village, Yupadee quickly takes a liking to Sangmong, encouraging a friendship that Ni Han hopes will help him become more sociable. Sangmong's early affection for Yupadee grows as she nurses him back to health.

Yupadee signals affection for Sangmong, sometimes warm and sometimes distant. Sangmong's attraction to Yupadee intensifies after she nurses him through a fever, blurring the lines of friendship and romance. Ni Han approves at first, hoping Yupadee will coax Sangmong out of his shell.

Ni Han announces a business trip and prepares to take Yupadee with him, but she fakes a pregnancy to remain behind. The ruse extends the couple's time together and further isolates Sangmong from his uncle. This setup paves the way for the affair to begin in earnest.

With Ni Han removed from the home, Yupadee and Sangmong give in to their feelings and consummate their affair. They secretly retreat to private space to keep their secret hidden from the household. A shared sense of danger spices their liaison, generating both tenderness and fear.

A servant finally informs Ni Han about the affair, and he appears initially unconvinced. He eventually catches them in Sangmong's bed, then banishes Yupadee and Sangmong to a small cabin in the woods, chaining them together to force them to stay united. The act marks a grim turn from romance to captivity.

In their confinement, the lovers initially treat the punishment as a joke but soon grow weary and resentful. Ni Han offers only a gun as a way out, forcing them to confront the choice between death and continued misery. Sangmong refuses to kill either himself or Yupadee and vows to endure.

Sangmong attempts to flee on a ferry that comes to the village every few months, trying to escape the sentence of the chain. He hacks at the chain with an axe to shorten their bondage, but Yupadee stops him from breaking it. Ni Han's men soon intercept the couple and drag them back to the cabin.

Yupadee shoots herself after Sangmong hesitates to kill himself to free her. Sangmong loses consciousness, and when he revives he finds Yupadee's corpse. A servant then cuts off Yupadee's hand, freeing Sangmong from the chain.

The grief drives Sangmong mad, and Ni Han takes him back into the village. He roams the streets in a state of despair, screaming in agony as centuries of pain echo in his mind. The once-conservative nephew becomes a haunted figure forever separated from sanity.

Back in the present, the visiting young man learns that the three women he slept with were actually Ni Han's women. Frightened, he hurries to leave the village. As a farewell gesture, Sangmong hands him a book before the young man rides away, a final, eerie connection to the past.