Sheep Without a Shepherd 2019

In northern Thailand, Weijie, an internet technician, lives with his wife Ayu and their two daughters Ping Ping and An An, enjoying a comfortable middle-class life. Their routine is steady until a grievous betrayal enters their world: Ping Ping is sexually assaulted at a summer camp by Su Cha, the son of mayor Du Peng and his wife, police chief La Wen. The assault becomes a weapon of manipulation, as Su Cha attempts to extract further sexual favors from Ping Ping.

Su Cha arranges to meet Ping Ping on her family’s property, but Ayu steps in to defend her daughter. After Su Cha assaults Ayu, Ping Ping commits an unintended act and kills him. They hurriedly bury Su Cha’s body in the grave of Weijie’s uncle at a local cemetery, but they are spotted by An An. The incident shatters the family’s sense of safety and sparks a desperate scramble to cover their tracks.

Weijie learns of the murder and moves to shield his family from police action. He disposes of key evidence—Su Cha’s car and mobile phone—and crafts an alibi by taking the family on a weekend trip to Hua Lamphong, hoping to bolster their story with witnesses and physical traces like bus tickets and receipts. He also trains his family on how to respond during interrogations, a careful plan to maintain credibility amid the growing investigation.

The case tightens when local police officer Sang Kun, who harbors animosity toward Weijie, spots him driving Su Cha’s car. His testimony initially meets skepticism due to his reputation, but it plants suspicion in [La Wen]’s mind and raises concern when the car’s discovery in a lake is mentioned. Despite intensive interrogations of Weijie, his family, and witnesses, La Wen struggles to dislodge the alibi she suspects is forged.

A breakthrough comes when Sang Kun reveals that Weijie is a crime-film enthusiast. Directing officers to Weijie’s shop, La Wen compiles a list of films he has recently watched and discovers a pattern: Weijie had been carefully crafting a falsified sequence of events, manipulating key witnesses—including restaurant owner Song En—and altering digital evidence, all leveraging his position as an internet technician to his advantage.

Convinced of Weijie’s guilt but lacking conclusive proof, a frustrated La Wen resorts to extreme measures, torturing his family to force a confession from An An. To shore up the case, she orders the grave exhumed publicly, yet the plan backfires when the grave reveals a goat carcass—left there earlier by Sang Kun—sparking a massive riot among locals who insist on Weijie’s and his family’s innocence.

The riot precipitates the downfall of La Wen, who is indefinitely suspended from her police role over allegations of corruption, and Du Peng resigns from his mayoral post in disgrace. Weijie and his family are publicly exonerated, but the guilt weighs heavily on him, and he eventually confesses to La Wen and Du Peng, accepting a prison sentence for his role in the killing. The ending strongly hints that Su Cha’s body may have been moved from the grave to a construction site where Weijie had been working.