Mrs Nguyen is a blue collar retiree in Hanoi, Vietnam who once worked in Germany as a foreign laborer. When she learns that her German husband has passed away, she returns to  retrieve his ashes. She inherits an urn of his ashes and a pet cu-li, a small creature resembling a monkey. With these, she has to bypass a series of absurd, bureaucratic hurdles  to bring the ashes and cu-li back home to Vietnam. Upon arriving back at her apartment, she  finds that her niece Van, who she has raised, is engaged to her boyfriend Quang. Mrs Nguyen is unpleasantly surprised at this turn of events, as Quang and his family come from the village,  and Mrs Nguyen's family is of a higher social status than his. Learning that Van is planning to  move away from her and live with her new in-laws, she questions why, and learns that it is a shotgun wedding. As wedding preparations are underway, Mrs Nguyen starts to unravel.