Welcome to Dongmakgol

    It's the 1950s during the Korean War, and a US Navy pilot crashes nearby the village of Dongmakgol. At the same time, North Korean soldiers trying to get back up north are ambushed by Allied forces, who kill most of them. The remaining three head into the mountains. In the woods, one lost Korean soldier finds another one. All three of them are headed for the peaceful village of Dongmakgol, lost in time.

    Dongmakgol is a place where people still live in their traditional ways, and no one has a clue about the war raging outside of their quiet home. So when Captain Neel Smith of the US Navy crashes, they take care of him and try to talk to him, and bring in the lost soldiers. Later, the North Korean soldiers show up and walk into the village, threatening a man called Teacher Kim. They and the South Korean soldiers face off for several days. The North Koreans have no ammo, so they hold up grenades instead. None of the villagers know what is happening or what the weapons are because they are removed from the world and don't even know that there is a war. A crazy girl pulls the pin on a grenade. When it doesn't blow, one of the South Koreans thinks it's a dud and throws it behind him into a storage room, where it blows.

    The next morning, they all wake up, and the leader of the North Koreans has promised not to fight and help refill and rebuild the storeroom. The others agree, and they start to learn to get along, even killing a boar that had been ravaging the town's harvests. Two of them form a very close bond, one calling the other "elder brother". The American frequently returns to his downed plane to send out a distress signal to no avail - or so he thinks. The US command in Korea receives the signal and plans an attack to get him out. A lot of their planes have been disappearing in the area around Dongmakgol and they believe it's an enemy anti-aircraft base.

    During a party one night, US/South Korea allied forces break-in and start yelling for the Communists to come out. Of course, the villagers have no idea what that means, and the North Korean soldiers stay hidden. But when the soldiers start harming people, both the South and North Koreans retaliate and take them out. They learn that the next night, the US fleet will be bombing the area, so they create a plan to decoy the bombers. They have Smith stay back as a last line of defense if it doesn't work. During the initial assault, they get the planes' attention and actually manage to take out a few. But later on, one of them is killed, and in a rage, another begins firing a machine gun and gets shot down. Satisfied that they have protected the village, the remaining three soldiers, despite being on opposite sides of a war, stand together as the bombs rain down.