In the present day, Kuala, now branded the village idiot, roams her *Nueva Ecija* town in tattered clothes and unkempt hair.
Bertong Ketong (Mario O'Hara), a leper longing for companionship, entices Kuala with a rattle and brings her to his ramshackle home in the cemetery.
Junior seeks Berto's counsel about his challenges with his eccentric teacher, Mr. Del Mundo (Orlando Nadres), who harbors a crush on him, and with his girlfriend, Evangeline (Hilda Koronel), who flirted with another during the recent Santacruzan.
Ultimately, Junior departs the cemetery, carrying Berto and Kuala’s son, determined to forge a new path amidst the shadows of loss and betrayal.
[2] Tinimbang, considered by Lino Brocka as his "first novel" and his first production for his own film outfit, is the story of a young boy growing up in a small town and the unusual friendship he develops with a leper and the village idiot.
Their stories draw forth the true nature of hypocrisy in the small town and the boy bears witness and participates in the various emotions that throb under the seemingly quiet village life - prejudice, cruelty, forgiveness, and even love.
In Tinimbang, Brocka clearly shows man's limitations as a mortal being, but sends a message of hope for the movie, and in the end, speaks ultimately of rebirth and maturity.