Set in Vietnam during the 1980s, Danh is a young boy growing up in Saigon.

Though he should help his mother sell noodles from a cart out of their home, he often sneaks out to buy cassettes.

One day, he inadvertently stumbles into a mysterious, beautiful street vendor named Tam, selling her cassette, Saigon Love Story.

Intrigued about her music, Danh decides to buy the cassette, only to discover that it is blank.

When Danh confronts Tam, he finds that she is penniless and unable to repay him, so she serenades him a song in her cassette.