In 1890s, a young man named Kim Chang-soo is sent to prison for his role in the murder of a Japanese man who took part in Empress Myeongseong's assassination. While behind bars, Kim sees that the prisoners are impoverished and uneducated and he finds out most are wrongly convicted. He begins to teach them letters so that they could clear their false charges. He gradually becomes the hope in the prison. However one day, Kim and his fellows get assigned to a large Japanese construction site where nothing but the ordeal worse than death is waiting.
