Salween 1993

Set against the volatile borderlands of Myanmar along the Salween River, a fragile postwar peace unravels as the central government (then SLORC) and the Karen National Liberation Army wage a long-hidden war just beyond the borders. A Thai timber baron, Tweepong, manipulates both sides to keep unrest alive while his company harvests the region’s teak, turning the frontier into a dangerous, lawless zone where money and power roam freely.

Danai, Siricoup Metanee, a young and idealistic police lieutenant, arrives to take charge of the Fah Soong Pha Sak police station. He arrives mid-chaos, motorcycle-packed and uniformed, as a gun battle erupts between local police and armed gunmen. He is dragged into the mêlée, mud-splattered and unbowed, and immediately sets a standard: the officers must clean up, dress properly, and show discipline. The confrontation that kicks off his tenure is linked to a dangerous web of loyalties: the gunmen who started the fight had been sent to kill Sgt. Raem by Noppol Gomarachun Somsak Tweepong, the son of the local crime lord, a man who remains a shadow over the town’s politics.

At a birthday party for Tweepong, Danai meets Somsak’s wife, a once-glamorous Bangkok beauty now consumed by alcohol and regret, whose unhappiness hints at the deeper fractures within the Tweepong nexus. Danai’s tour of the district introduces Nid, a schoolteacher for Thai hill-tribe children and the daughter of Sergeant Ram. Her mother was raped and killed by Somsak’s men, a backstory that fuels Ram’s bitterness and adds a personal layer to the border conflict.

The conflict spills over into Thailand when Karen troops, led by KNLA Lieutenant Tulay, come under attack by a SLORC helicopter gunship. Danai initially orders Ram to turn the Karen back, but the sight of the helicopter’s assault unsettles him. He hesitates, even firing at the helicopter in a moment of frustration, though the clash remains unresolved in that moment.

Tension deepens as Somsak’s violence erupts at home: his wife accuses him of being homosexual, and in a furious struggle, Somsak seizes a gun and accidentally shoots her. She survives long enough to reach the police station, where she dies, naming Somsak as her killer. Now a fugitive, Somsak flees across the border into Myanmar. Danai, urged by Ram, abandons formal extradition and joins a dangerous, forceful pursuit into enemy territory, determined to bring Somsak back to Thailand.

In Myanmar, Tulay and his men strike a tenuous alliance, agreeing to spare Danai’s party in return for their lives during the earlier river incident. Danai insists that Somsak must face Thai law for murder, prompting Tulay to respond with a stark reminder of their world: > This is Kawthoolei. Thai laws have no meaning here.

The Karen strike at dawn, and Ram is fatally shot, though he manages to injure Tulay before dying. The survivors, including Ram’s daughter, press on, determined to bring Somsak back. They capture Somsak and begin the treacherous return to Thailand, carrying the weight of a village’s vengeance and a frontier’s unresolved debts.

As they near the river crossing, Tulay lies in wait under the water, attempting another ambush. SLORC troops appear and shoot Tulay, revealing a deal between the Myanmar authorities and Tweepong to seize Somsak. Tulay, though not fully dead, drifts downstream to die, while Somsak flees back toward Myanmar. Nid hands a pistol to Danai, who then shoots Somsak in the back, ending the chase and closing a brutal cycle of violence that stretched across borders and laws.

This story threads a landscape of conflicted loyalties, where a dedicated police officer faces ethical limits and personal danger, where a timber magnate’s profiteering sustains turmoil, and where the border between nations becomes a frontline for tragedy, loyalty, and the price of justice.