A young man, Fak, is a revered novice Buddhist monk, and the entire village has turned out to the local temple to hear him preach a sermon.

He hopes that when he completes his national service, he will return to the village, be ordained as a monk and devote his life to religion.

There, among the lotus, he sees a beautiful woman bathing, fully clothed (as is customary in Thailand).

Somsong also has the unfortunate habit of shedding her clothes and running naked in public, or simply lifting her dress and exposing herself.

He grabs a hoe and uses it to strike the animal, hitting it with a glancing blow that only injures it and makes it angrier.

Fak makes friends with the undertaker, a lowly person who is not well liked by the superstitious villagers because they believe he is unclean.

Looking for relief from the pressure of taking care of his mentally ill stepmother and the harsh judgment of the villagers, Fak turns to the bottle and becomes an alcoholic.

His downward spiral continues until he has angered the villagers, and they turn on him and beat him, leaving him to be assisted home by Somsong.