In 1920s Dutch East Indies, Giandra, a young doctor from STOVIA, reads about Layla—a girl shackled in a remote village as a "cure" for mental illness. Disturbed, he travels to Karuhun, where tradition and mysticism prevail over science. Guided by journalist Rikke, who warns him with three words—Culture. Mysticism. Superstition.—Giandra must confront a clash between modern medicine and ancestral belief.