During a stirring, intense year, Mai Linh had gathered cards, notes, letters, sms and emails, the creative atoms of a fated romance. Beside the Lake of the Redeemed Sword, under the broad boasting tree of Summer, he had held her shoulders: "You will see. You will believe, in you, in me, in life's chances to those who strive. Em se'e xem, before the last bang leaf falls." She had glanced at the rampant greenery, then at their wavering shadow, fragmented on the pavement. "These leaves will blaze and fade and fall, and all will be bare," she smiled, "and we will walk here in wool and leather....

During a stirring, intense year, Mai Linh had gathered cards, notes, letters, sms and emails, the creative atoms of a fated romance. Beside the Lake of the Redeemed Sword, under the broad shimmering bang tree, earnest Jack held her shoulders and tried to burn a message through her eyes: "You will see, em se'e xem, you will believe in you, in me, in Life's chances. Before the last bang leaf falls." She sighed and smiled: "The leaves will fall, and all be bare, and the Winter clouds will stifle the sun. That is our Hanoi."

How do the ordinary people - the Tao - retain their hope and romance amid the torments and insults of harsh conditions and unjust systems? Between the wealth of the sugar society and the mountainous fringes of civilisation, a family endures its suffering and finds a way to show their collective power to challenge the careless elites.