Seventy-four-year-old Laotian coroner Dr. Siri seeks to find the killer behind the deaths of three women from fencing-sword wounds, but first he must extricate himself from a Cambodian prison, where he faces beatings, torture, and possible death.
Dr. Siri Paiboun, the only medical examiner in Laos in 1978, realizes that he is dealing with a serial killer when he discovers that the murder of a beautiful young woman who was tied to a tree and strangled resembles similar murders in the countryside.