This film portrays a poignant family saga in an explosive dictatorship era in the Philippines.

With the imminent death of his autocratic grandfather, coinciding with the burgeoning oppressive regime of Ferdinand Marcos, Servando Monzon III, inheritor of the hacienda and businesses of his powerful clan, agonizes on becoming the new feudal lord and capitulating with Marcos' designs to control the Philippines. He is aware of his clan's long history of violence; he knows the very violent history of his county; and he foresees a very violent future with the Marcos dictatorship.

A feudal heir struggles with his family's history of exploitation and political opportunism. As the state seeks to monopolise their business, he is torn between securing his workers' future and cooperating with Marcos's regime. Meanwhile, his brother-in-law secretly recruits the workers to the rebel cause, drawing the military's attention, whose presence on the estate triggers recollections of long-buried secrets. Lav Diaz returns with an examination of generational trauma and its influence on his nation's political developments. A rich, nuanced portrait of interlocking dates in Marcos-era Philippines, the film also serves as an allegory for the fraught conscience of a nation now ruled by its former dictator's son.—jakepanek