This film paints a tender, unvaried portrait of love for a hometown, family, and the rough edges of adolescence in a poverty-stricken village in the Central Region of Vietnam during the 1980s. At the center are two brothers, Tường, a gentle and innocent seventh-grader, and Thiều, his older brother whose selfish, stubborn streak often clashes with the world around him. The story unfolds through the lens of Thiều’s diary, a daily record of his life, thoughts, and the complicated emotions that simmer beneath his outward bravado.
Tường is kind, imaginative, and deeply attached to his little acts of kindness—he loves animals, especially insects, and he fills his days with books and folk tales. He is the steady heart in the family, generous and patient, and his quiet seriousness contrasts with Thiều’s more outgoing, trouble-seeking nature. The brothers’ bond is the backbone of the film, a heartbeat that can both shelter and wound, depending on the moment.
Their father is described as a courteous man who carries a short fuse, and their mother is gentle but strict, a figure who tempers the brothers’ missteps with steady guidance. The home is simple and warm in moments, but it is also marked by hardship and a reality that leaves little room for indulgence. In the village, Uncle Đàn—Thiều’s father’s younger brother—is handicapped yet endlessly hopeful, filling their world with spooky stories and small, comforting thrills. He cherishes Vinh, the daughter of their stern teacher, weaving a quiet thread of longing and small-scope romance into the village’s everyday rhythm.
A pivotal presence in the tale is their classmate Sơn, a muscular, prankful boy who often tests the limits of friendship and propriety. In contrast to Sơn’s unruly energy stands Mận, a cute and sincere girl who carries the weight of caring for her sick father, who is kept hidden in a shack. Mận’s family is strained; her father is believed to be dead after a fire destroys the shack, and her mother faces arrest in the wake of the blaze. The truth, however, is more complex: Mận’s father is alive, and her mother’s fate remains a source of fear and hope for her. When Mận arrives at the family’s home, Thiều and Tường open their doors to her, and she becomes a focal point in the brothers’ evolving relationship with love and jealousy.
As Mận settles into the household, Thiều’s jealousy begins to surface. The fragile balance of friendship and affection is tested, and the brothers must confront the consequences of a world that seems stacked against them. A thread running through the narrative is the fate of Cu Cậu, Tường’s beloved pet toad, whose presence symbolizes the innocence of childhood and the fragility of their small joys. The toad’s fate becomes a haunting memory for Thiều, a reminder of the cost of his carelessness and the fragility of family ties.
The village endures a flood that tests everything the brothers have built. When the waters retreat, they return to a landscape of poverty and scarcity, with crops failing and the sense that survival still hinges on resilience and mutual support. In the wake of disaster, Uncle Đàn and Vinh become part of a larger plan to escape the shadows of their village, seeking a future beyond the familiar hills. Yet the pull of home—of the people who shaped their early years—remains strong, pulling them back to the memory of what they shared.
Amidst these upheavals, Thiều’s selfishness grows more pronounced, and his relationship with Tường becomes increasingly strained. A brutal moment changes everything: Thiều strikes Tường with a heavy stick, leaving him paralyzed. The act fractures the brothers’ companionship and sends a ripple of guilt through Thiều, who realizes in the aftermath that Tường had placed his hope in Mận’s companionship—an awareness that haunts him and reframes his own choices.
Throughout the narrative, the film stays grounded in the emotional texture of everyday life in a small village, with its rhythms of school, chores, and neighborly ties. It explores how love can take many forms—romantic, familial, and platonic—and how memory and regret shape the path forward. The diary becomes both confession and witness: a record of what is lost and what endures, a testament to the stubborn persistence of family bonds even when those bonds are strained to the limit.
In the end, the story remains faithful to its core: a coming-of-age tale set against the backdrop of poverty, resilience, and the stubborn, complicated love that kin and friends can offer. It is a meditation on how childhood joys—like reading, tales of old heroes, the sight of a loyal toad, or the simple comfort of a sibling’s presence—persist even as life grows heavier with responsibility, heartbreak, and the uncertain promise of a brighter tomorrow.
