In 1943, during the Japanese occupation of Korea, 14-year-old Jung-min, Kang Ha-na and her family endure poverty but keep a quiet happiness, while 16-year-old Young-hee, Seo Mi-ji, shoulders the burden of caring for her younger siblings after their parents die in the war. One day, Japanese soldiers forcibly seize the two girls from their homes, giving them only minutes to say goodbye and pack. They are shipped to Manchuria in livestock wagons and forced into service as comfort women for the Imperial Army.
The girls may only speak Japanese; speaking other languages is punished. They are confined to tiny rooms with a bed in a brothel, where a continuous stream of soldiers stays for about 10 minutes each. The servicemen mistreat and beat them, and many are driven to the brink of insanity by the constant abuse. One soldier treats Jung-min with unexpected kindness and even gives her a map. Jung-min, Young-hee, and four others hatch an escape plan. One girl becomes lost in the dark; the Japanese catch her and beat her severely. Jung-min and Young-hee watch from a hideout and decide to return so the others won’t be killed.
During the night, the soldiers torture the women. In the morning they order the escapee, the traumatized girl, and several injured women into a truck, promising medical treatment in a bigger camp, but the servicemen kill them and burn their corpses. As China and the Soviet Union mount counterattacks, the Japanese decide to exterminate all the remaining comfort women and incinerate the corpses. Jung-min gives Young-hee her personal talisman and urges them to follow orders, but the girls are ultimately saved by Korean Guerillas.
Jung-min and Young-hee escape hand in hand. In tall grass, a wounded Japanese soldier tries to kill them with a sword; the guerrillas shoot him and guide the girls away, but the dying soldier shoots Jung-min. Young-hee returns home and lives a long life.
In the secondary plotline, an elderly former comfort woman sews talismans for sale and struggles to forget the past. As other survivors begin to speak out, she finally decides to share her story and visits a government office, where officials respond with disdain. She befriends her old shaman friend’s young disciple, a medium who can channel the spirits of the dead. The disciple asks the elderly woman to call her “Grandmother.” They travel to her hometown together, though the memories stir pain as everything has changed. The disciple channels Jung-min’s spirit, and elderly Young-hee relives the events of her adolescence. The disciple conducts a homecoming ritual for the spirits of comfort women killed by the Japanese. Jung-min’s spirit returns to her parents’ house, and the family shares a simple feast.
