An intimate look at one man's struggle against prejudice and exploitation: Walter Dempster, Jr., alias Markova, watches a tv documentary about the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. As aging comfort women relate the horrors of being forced into prostitution by the occupation forces, Markova begins to reflect on his own tumultuous life. As a boy, Markova is abused by his brutal older brother. When his brother dies, he experiences his first taste of real freedom but it is a short-lived, rather compromised one. He must deal with the prejudices of his society and the arrival of the Japanese forces only means a worse kind of oppression. Forced to prostitute himself, Markova eventually escapes but even when the country is liberated by American forces, he finds his battle is far from over.