Set among the Hmong people, an ethnic minority living in the beautiful mountains of North Vietnam, this is a contemplative, coming-of-age story of Pao, a young Hmong woman who, following the sudden death of her stepmother, sets off to track down her birth mother. She gradually comes to understand the complex web of her parents' relationships, both inside and outside the family. Since she was a little girl, she knew that the woman who brought her up and whom she loves, is her father's wife, and that her mother is somebody else — a woman that visits the family from time to time. In the light of new facts and events, Pao is forced to change her opinion many times concerning her own parents and interpersonal relations in general, and also has to discard her naive prejudices. This contemplative story develops the concept of love from different points of view, both traditional and modern, and seeks to share an intimate look at Vietnam and the Hmong people. The magnificent mountain ranges of Northwest Vietnam, engulfed year-round in an immense veil of fog, provide a rich cinematic setting for this vivid and moving film Pao's Story was Vietnam's 2006 Foreign Oscar submission.