The decade-long secessionist war on Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea, is one of the many postcolonial wars underreported by Western media. When a cease-fire was signed in 1998, over 15,000 people had died in the fighting. This film observes the culturally based reconciliation ceremonies now being undertaken to heal the rifts between neighboring communities on opposite sides of the struggle. As a former fighter prepares a ritual to ask forgiveness of the mother, widow, and children of a neighboring chief whom he shot, the cathartic role of such processes becomes palpable for all the participants, and for the audience.