This Korean film is the second chapter of director Chang-dong Lee's study on forgiveness.
An elderly woman takes care of her ungrateful grandson and decides, on a whim, to take a poetry class. Her pursuit of poetry forces her to slow down and truly focus and closely study the daily life surrounding her.
Her life is suddenly turned upside down when it is revealed that her grandson has committed a horrible crime along with his friends and the other parents implore the grandmother to help them raise the money needed to keep the boys in school and out of jail...
The grandmother's moral dilemma provides the main through line for this slow, steady paced story.
To help cover for a grandson who is her own flesh and blood or to allow him to pay society's price for his grievous sin.
In the end she does the right thing and this also allows her to finish the poem for her class and become the only student who does so...
