This documentary explores the lives of five women who have survived the Vietnam conflict to live in current (1989) Vietnam. It also underscores the inferior place of women in Vietnamese society both before and after the war, but nonetheless elicits the strong bond each woman feels for her country and society. The lives of all these women are structured by traditional views like the four virtues and the three submissions. Vietnamese women's lives traditionally have three stages: before marriage, she must be a lady; during marriage, she is like a maid; after marriage, she is like a monkey.~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide