A man travels to the eastern coast of Korea carrying the ashes of his deceased wife. He hopes to scatter them in a place closer to her hometown, which lies near the demilitarized zone separating North from South Korea, but along his journey he becomes burdened with the deaths of two more women who cross his path. At the same time, a nurse attempts to escort the dying chairman of a business conglomerate to his hometown, which is also located just to the north or south of the DMZ. Pursued by henchmen of the chairman's son, a politician who wants to keep his father's journey out of the press, the nurse comes across the man carrying the metaphorical "three coffins."