Chapter 1: The Boy. 1980.
A middle-school student in the South Korean city of Gwangju named Dong-ho seeks assistance from those in charge at the Provincial Office in 1980 for help in finding his missing friend Jeong-dae. He suspects that soldiers have buried his friend's body somewhere. As a consequence of the Gwangju Uprising, body after body is brought to the morgue while poster after poster is being put up asking for help in locating missing people. The uprising took place on May 18, 1980, as a protest in favor of democracy in response to a coup installing a military dictator. Dong-ho decides to enlist his services as a volunteer along with a couple of women named Eun-sook and Seon-ju. His duties are mostly administrative, and this leads to his receiving information that a military assault on the city is imminent. Although he is warned by friends and family to return home, Dong-jo decides to stay with tragic results.
Chapter 2: The Boy's Friend. 1980.
Following Jeong-dae's death, he tells the story of what happened to his body. His corpse is just one of many that are loaded onto a military vehicle before being dumped and stacked and abandoned to rot in a clearing. Eventually, he begins to sense contact among the bodies and realizes this communion is with other souls of dead bodies. Gradually, the revelation hits that his own sister is among the dead as well. The chapter is primarily philosophical in nature as Jeong-dae begins to question the meaning of existence if it leads to nothing but senseless death at the hands of uncaring soldiers. He is also struggling with understanding why his soul is still leashed so closely with his corpse. It is only when the soldiers finally return to burn the bodies that his soul is released from this horrifying bondage to a useless bodily vessel. Upon this release, he vows to find his friend Dong-ho only to realize instantly that Dong-ho has been killed as well.
Chapter 3: The Editor. 1985.
Five years later, Eun-sook is employed as an editor for a publisher. It is an afternoon on a Wednesday, and she receives seven hard slaps across her face, one after the other. The slapper is an interrogator who is pushing for information about her working with a translator who is a fugitive from justice. The incident left her face swollen and smeared with blood. She goes to the state censor's office to retrieve the proofs of a play only to discover it is now unworthy of publishing due to the excision of scenes considered subversive. Nevertheless, the play does get performed and she attends only to watch in horror as the actors perform the censored dialogue in ways that make it impossible to understand. The subject of the play is the Gwangju Uprising and Eun-sook is overcome with emotion as she mimics the actors by silently mouthing the censored name Dong-ho.
Chapter 4. The Prisoner. 1990.
An unidentified prisoner who was jailed for participating in the Uprising is relating his story to a professor. His narrative is an account of the persistent torture suffered by himself as well as other prisoners confined with him. The prisoner discusses how Jin-su seemed to suffer extra at the hands of the torturous guards, suggesting that it was because he was more feminine, and this simply rubbed the guards the wrong way. After being released, the prisoner accidentally bumps into Jin-su one day and they commiserate over the difficulties of adjusting to life outside incarceration. Indeed, they share stories of dealing with the effects of PTSD following their experiences with the crackdown on the Uprising. The prisoner and Jin-su spend several years occasionally reuniting to support each other until Jin-su commits suicide. The chapter ends with the prisoner telling the professor he has absolutely no answer as to why such horrible things happen. He also admits that he never stops remembering that every single person he meets is a human being.
Chapter 5. The Factory Girl. 2002.
Seon-ju in 2002 is employed as a transcriber. She is considering the opportunity to provide testimony on the Gwangju Uprising extended by Professor Yoon. She decides to reject the offer to tell her story and instead spends time contemplating her past. Much of that past is taken up with activist activities supporting workers' rights. This led to a close relationship with an older labor leader named Seong-hee. The relationship has gone through ups and downs, especially with Seon-ju's decision to leave labor and focus on environmental issues. Seong-hee now lies dying in the hospital when Seon-ju decides to visit her.
Chapter 6. The Boy's Mother. 2010.
Dong-ho's mother has grown old and is suffering the cognitive effects of aging. Despite the passage of decades, she has never been fully able to let go of either the grief or the guilt she feels for not doing everything she could to bring him home that fateful day. The loss of Dong-ho has unfortunately had collateral tragedy in the form of disrupting her relationship with her two surviving sons. The chapter becomes a memory of her life in the wake of his death as she became an activist protecting the dictator whose coup is responsible for the crackdown on the Uprising.
Epilogue. The Writer. 2013.
The book ends with a first-person account by a character known only as the Writer who discusses the stimulus behind writing this book. Everything began at the tender age of nine when her family moved from Gwangju to Seoul. This vacation allowed Dong-ho's family to move into the writer's old family homestead. Conversations overheard within the family led to the learning information that eventually results in the book being read.
