Following 20-plus years of civil war, a cease-fire treaty has been reached between the Sinhala government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. In its attempt to ensure that the cease-fire isn't breached, the Sri Lankan army's presence is felt everyday, conveying the strange sense of a country suspended in a state of being simultaneously without war and without peace.

In a far corner of this war-torn no-man's-land, serviceman Anura (Mahendra Perera) shares a small home with his wife Latá (Nilupili Jayawardena) and his unmarried sister, Somá (Kaushalya Fernando). Anura works by day as a guardsman, sharing his post - and rifle - with Piyasiri (Hemasiri Liyanage), an older man who takes the night shift. On one fateful day, when the army delivers early morning, life-altering orders to Anura, Latá's frustration will mount, and Somá will retrace the tragic consequences of Piyasiri's painful past, as told to her in the guise of a little girl's fairy tale.

Poetic and haunting, this remarkable debut from director Vimukthi Jayasundara asserts a powerful new voice in filmmaking and stands as a breakthrough for Sri-Lankan cinema.