Secret agent Sadeli, undercover merchant Umar Yunus, and ex-journalist Ali Nurdin experience love, loss, and sacrifice during Indonesia's revolution to overthrow Dutch colonialism. Early 1947: In a world still reeling from World War II, Indonesians revolt against Dutch attempts to recolonize their country. Major Sadeli of the Indonesian Army Intelligence travels to Singapore disguised as a sugar merchant, tasked with establishing naval and air routes to Sumatra and Java and securing weapons and radio equipment vital to the Indonesian revolution. His desire for Indonesia to be prosperously independent, independently prosperous, and no longer dependent on larger nations' pity, forces him to choose between personal happiness and commitment to a higher cause.