The film is adapted from the autobiographical sections of Rithy Panh's book "The Elimination", exploring the story of his familiy before and after the Khmer Rouge entered Phnom PenhPol Pot's communist regime overtoook the Cambodian capital on April 17, 1975. Panh was eleven years old. Citizens were rounded up and sent to agricultural labor camps. With the ostensible purpose of eliminating class divisions, all personal effects were confiscated. Numbers replaced individuals. Torture and execution were undertaken for even the slightest infraction. Hunger soon dominated. The regime was built on massive deprivation and fear. In a bold and imaginative leap, this story is pictured via carved figurines, overlaid by narration.