Ye-sung is training to be a lawyer, and chooses her late father's wrongful conviction for a crime he did not commit as the subject for her mock trial. As she leaves the prison court after a verdict, she notices a balloon snagged on barbed wire, a small, quiet detail that echoes a louder memory and threads through the film with a gentle gravity.
Back in 1997, 6-year-old Ye-sung — Yesha — and her father Yong-gu look on a store window with a Sailor Moon backpack in the glass, a symbol of a simple wish they can scarcely afford. Yong-gu, a devoted father, promises to buy it when he gets paid, and the dream seems within reach. But fate intervenes when the police commissioner and his daughter beat them to it, and Yong-gu is pushed aside and kicked out of the shop. The next day, the commissioner's daughter spots Yong-gu again, and a cruel stroke of misfortune follows: she slips on icy pavement, a brick drops, and the girl dies. In the days that follow, Yong-gu is arrested for rape and murder after a bystander misreads his clumsy CPR as guilt, leaving a family stunned and unjustly marked.
Prison walls become the new world for Yong-gu, who shares a cell in Room 7 with five inmates who are wary of a man deemed both disabled and accused. Yet a single act changes everything: Yong-gu saves his cellmate and gang leader, So Yang-ho, from a brutal stabbing, and the exchange of lives begins. So Yang-ho, moved by a newfound sense of debt and loyalty, offers his protection and guidance. With a flicker of hope, Yong-gu tells him that he longs to see Ye-sung again. The inmates make this possible by smuggling Ye-sung into the prison during a choir performance, letting her spend a night with her father behind the bars. The moment is tender and fragile, a rare bridge between innocence and a harsh reality. The warden, alerted by the visit, stumbles upon the family reunion, yet he also begins to grasp that Yong-gu is not the brutal killer he was painted to be.
As relationships deepen, Ye-sung’s father is gradually recognized as someone who would not harm a child. The warden witnesses Yong-gu’s courageous defense during a perilous arson attempt, and, moved by the act, decides to permit Ye-sung to visit Yong-gu after school, establishing a fragile routine of connection in a place designed to separate souls. Before the trial, the Room 7 inmates coach Yong-gu on how to answer questions with calm, composure, and a steady voice, turning potential accusation into a measured defense. The preparation gives Yong-gu a practiced poise and a quiet confidence, even as outside forces intensify.
The turning point comes when the commissioner assaults Yong-gu in a fit of rage, pressing him to confess. Cornered and with his daughter’s life at stake, Yong-gu makes a desperate choice and lies that he killed the commissioner's daughter to protect Ye-sung, a sacrifice that seals his fate. He is sentenced to death, with the execution date set for December 23 — a date that coincidentally overlaps with Ye-sung’s birthday. In a shared moment of communal desperation and devotion, the inmates construct a hot air balloon to aid a potential escape. During a prison concert, they stage a distraction, sending Yong-gu and Ye-sung up into the sky on the balloon, while guards feign overwhelm. But the rope catches on barbed wire, forcing an abrupt end to the escape plan. On the day of Yong-gu’s execution, the inmates and Ye-sung gather to celebrate Ye-sung’s birthday, holding onto a fragile thread of hope even as the reality of the outcome lands with a heavy finality.
Sixteen years later, a reimagined court scene brings Yong-gu’s memory back to life. Ye-sung, the prison warden, and the Room 7 inmates attend a mock trial that becomes a real, emotional trial of justice. The judge overturns the old verdict, granting Yong-gu a posthumous acquittal and a court order to reopen the investigation into the girl’s death. While the order carries no immediate legal weight, it offers closure for the inmates who kept vigil for years, the warden who walked with them through the years, and Ye-sung, now a dedicated advocate for truth. The film circles back to its opening image: Ye-sung’s vision of Yong-gu and her younger self on the hot air balloon, waving goodbye as the memory finally settles into something like peace.
- Soliman Cruz as Tatang Celso
- Mon Confiado as Choi
- Joel Torre as Boss Sol
- Bela Padilla as Yesha [Adult] [link above]
- John Arcilla as Johnny San Juan
- Aga Muhlach as Joselito / Lito [Yong-gu] [link above]
- Jojit Lorenzo as Bong
- JC Santos as Mambo
- Xia Vigor as Yesha [Child] [link above]
- Mayton Eugenio as Teacher Marilou
- Gian Garcia as Inmate
