1979, Cambodia, Southern Zone: Lang has managed to escape recapture and has walked across half of the South, trying to find whatever is left of his shattered family. Now, he must turn north. To try to get through to Phnom Penh, and then to his ancestral village.
He knows what lies ahead of him. A wasteland of communes evacuated and stripped of food, market towns deserted four years ago, burned buildings, UXOs, mined roads and little water. But he doesn’t know who lies ahead of him in this tormented landscape. If he runs into Vietnamese minesweeping crews, will they leave him alone? If he runs into the Vietnamese army, what will they do to him? There are still rogue cadres around, travelling in packs; if they find him, will they take him hostage against capture by the Vietnamese?
But there's a fourth scenario. If he runs into his own army, and they figure out he’s a deserter - they’ll shoot him.
Four enemies. And any one of them could be anywhere. Because, since the Vietnamese invasion, the whole country is a war zone. There’s NO FRONT LINE.
The blue mountains of the Sanhaan range, as seen from Lang's starting point. This photo was taken just after the harvest; he avoided the stubble by walking on levees separating the paddies, like the one in front of the line of trees. Once on the other side of the Sanhaan pass, he carried his supplies as the boy on the right is doing (on a pole over his shoulder). The two white Brahmas are like the yearling he took with him.