A Poet of the River

An 18-year-old North Korean defector, Lee Sun-hwa, crosses the Duman River, traversing the thin boundary between life and death, and arrives in South Korea. Upon completing her resettlement program at Hanawon, she is placed in a public housing unit in Nowon, Seoul. Yet, life in the South feels like an uncharted world. Choosing to enroll in a South Korean high school rather than extend her stay at Hanawon, she soon finds herself struggling—both academically and culturally. Her only wish is to reunite with her family.