Born to rice paddy farmers at the end of the war, Lap’s stories take us on an incredible journey where we feel the pain of famine when people and pets are taken, the surprise at the announcement of the Doi Moi and an economic revolution, the struggle to achieve goals and the disappointment when fate snatches hard earned success. These are true stories how tradition and ingenuity come together in the form of a pho stand that decides one man’s fate.
Lap is a man who, like the beaver, instinctively builds for his own security and for his family. And, like the beaver, no matter how many times what he builds is attacked or damaged, he returns and steadfastly builds again. But Lap is not a beaver and having built everything he ever dreamed of, faces cataclysmic events of Covid and wonders if he can ever rebuild. Meanwhile, his wife watches and wonders if, even if they pay back what they owe and beg into rebuild, if there will ever be a point at which her husband’s thirst for more will be satisfied.
You may laugh. You may cry. But you will never forget Lap, his family and his stories.