Set in the Philippines during the start of the American Occupation in the early 1900s, the film revolves around three generations of a family who flees the impending conflict in the city and tries to survive in the jungle.

The grainy, black and white quality, primitive editing techniques and painted backdrops evoke the mode of filmmaking pervasive during that era.

Wary of the terror the soldiers might bring upon them, a mother (Tetchie Agbayani) decides to flee to the mountain jungles with her son (Sid Lucero).

One day, the son finds a young woman (Alessandra de Rossi), exhausted and lying on the road after an American soldier rapes her.

This time, it is a newsreel narrated by an American broadcaster at first describing the Philippines in general, then proceeding to an event that occurred in a marketplace in an unnamed town.

The newsreel ends with a warning to all people who do questionable things: "Our brave troops are everywhere, ensuring that the streets are safe in this time of crisis."

Raya Martin developed the film as an homage to the early Hollywood studio system, which has greatly influence Filipino cinema.

Martin's production design team, headed by Digo Ricio, placed trees and plants both fake and real, and painted all of the backdrops for the scenes.

Film critic Antoine Thirion considered him one of the 50 best filmmakers under 50 in the 50th issue of Cinemascope: "There’s no Filipino director who can deny that he’s trying to portray the particularly tragic condition of their people.