En ce printemps 1980, un vent de terreur souffle sur la Corée du Sud. La révolte de Gwangju se solde par un massacre sans nom. Dans la ville meurtrie, Tongho erre parmi les cadavres, à la recherche de son ami disparu. Dans une maison d'édition, Kim travaille sur un texte censuré. Dans l'au-delà, Cheongdae part retrouver les siens. Et toutes ces âmes tourmentées ne demandent qu'à trouver la paix.

In the midst of a violent student uprising in South Korea, a young boy named Dong-ho is shockingly killed. The story of this tragic episode unfolds in a sequence of interconnected chapters as the victims and the bereaved encounter suppression, denial, and the echoing agony of the massacre. From Dong-ho’s best friend who meets his own fateful end; to an editor struggling against censorship; to a prisoner and a factory worker, each suffering from traumatic memories; and to Dong-ho's own grief-stricken mother; and through their collective heartbreak and acts of hope is the tale of a brutalized people in search of a voice. An award-winning, controversial bestseller, Human Acts is a timeless, pointillist portrait of an historic event with reverberations still being felt today, by turns tracing the harsh reality of oppression and the resounding, extraordinary poetry of humanity.