A man who has been living overseas for many years returns home to find his sister and widowed mother are making a living by taking in lodgers and murdering them.
In 1936 in rural Bang Kapi, among the rice fields, Kwan and Riam, the children of rival village chiefs, fall in love. Riam's father disapproves of the relationship, and wants to marry her off to Joi, the son of a wealthy local nobleman. Riam's father, Joi and some other men go to confront Kwan and find him on the spirit-house island with Riam.