Vietnam in the 1950s. Mui, a young girl from the countryside, comes to Saigon to work as a servant for a middle-class family. She finds her only confidante in old Thi, who teaches her everything a woman in this household needs to know: the secrets of cooking and, above all, the traditional preparation of papaya. After a busy youth comes the best time in her life. She finds love with the young composer Khuyen.