Poetry

The film opens on a river where children play along the bank. A girl's body in a school uniform floats past, signaling tragedy and the mystery that frames the story. The tranquil scene is a grim prologue to the events that follow.

Yang Mi-ja, a 66-year-old grandmother surviving on government welfare, visits a doctor because of forgetfulness and is referred to a specialist. As she leaves the hospital, she sees a woman overwhelmed by grief after her 16-year-old daughter drowns. The encounter foreshadows the weight of memory and loss to come.

Mi-ja handles caregiving for an aging, ill-mannered grandson, Jong-wook, while his divorced mother lives in Busan. At home he leaves at night to socialize with five other boys, creating tension and concern. Mi-ja tries to keep the household orderly despite the underlying strain.

Mi-ja notices a poster for a poetry class at the community center and enrolls, seeking meaning through verse. The course requires one poem by the end of the month, so she starts jotting notes about what she sees, especially flowers.

Jong-wook and five other boys are implicated in the brutal rape of Agnes, a 16-year-old girl, and her death follows. The school and the fathers fear scandal, so the parents offer a settlement of 30 million won to Agnes's widowed mother. Mi-ja is pressured to contribute her share of 5 million won but cannot afford it.

Mi-ja is diagnosed with early-stage Alzheimer's disease, but she keeps it to herself. She attempts to confront Jong-wook about his actions, but he ignores her.

Mi-ja attends local weekly poetry readings, where a brash man reads beautiful verse followed by crude sexual jokes that offend her. A fellow poet explains that the man is a policeman with a good heart, recently reassigned from Seoul after exposing corruption.

Mi-ja temporarily quits her job after a desperate sexual advance from the elderly man she cares for. She later visits the river and the bridge where Agnes jumped; her hat flies into the water as she wanders to the riverbank, where she sits and writes poetry in the rain. She returns to the elderly man and, though emotionally altered, agrees to have sex.

A reporter questions Mi-ja about the settlement and whether Agnes's mother will accept. She inadvertently reveals too much and the interview grows tense as he presses her for answers. She hurries away and calls someone on the phone.

In a further meeting with the fathers, Mi-ja is told to travel to the countryside to persuade Agnes's mother to accept the settlement. She finds the mother in a field and, after a pleasant exchange about weather and flowers, becomes lost in the moment and forgets her task, leaving before addressing the settlement.

Mi-ja returns to the fathers to admit she cannot pay her portion, but Agnes's mother agrees to settle nonetheless. The elderly man pays the required money after she asks him for it, resolving the financial aspect of the case. She calls her daughter to come home and tells Jong-wook to shower.

That night, the crude policeman from the poetry readings arrives with a partner to take Jong-wook away, and Mi-ja does not protest. The consequences of the boys' actions begin to catch up with them in a decisive moment.

A bouquet is found at the poetry class podium along with Mi-ja's poem 'Agnes's Song'. The teacher reads the poem to the class, but Mi-ja is absent. The film ends with Mi-ja's voiceover interwoven with Agnes's memory, leaving the fate ambiguous.