Nicole is half French, half Vietnamese, the daughter of a silk merchant living in Hanoi on the eve of the collapse of French rule in Indochina. Her father leaves the family business to his eldest daughter Sylvia, while the youngest - a frivolous creature, according to her relatives - will receive only the old store upon reaching adulthood. Since childhood, Nicole has been convinced that her sister despises her for her Asian features; Half-breeds like her are showered with ridicule and abuse in the city. Just when she thinks she has met her love, her older sister suddenly crosses her path... Nicole learns the truth about who her chosen one really is, and realizes that from now on her life is split in two. Feeling outcast and rejected, she flees to the north of the country to join the Resistance...For the first time in Russian!