South Korea in 1975 was nicknamed "The Dark Age," a period of oppression, despair and justified paranoia following President Park Chung-Hee′s plans for "emergency measures" to further regulate society. Today, Kim Young-Su is writing a book on Jeon Tae-Il, a labor activist who set himself on fire to protest the Park regime′s failure to enforce its own labor laws. Jeon′s death at 22 helped insitigate fundamental changes and iconized his martyrdom. Fleeing from the law for anti-government activism himself, Kim is obsessed with what ultimately drove Jeon to his final act of self immolation.