Like an Asian Forrest Gump, Deok-su (Hwang Jung-min) wends his way through the second half of the 20th century with a cheery grin and a single obsession: to find his father and little sister, from whom he was separated in 1950 during the Korean War. Striving to support his remaining family in Busan, he navigates a succession of perils — a mining disaster in Germany; a narrow escape from Vietnam — and a wealth of historical shorthand. When his best friend suddenly sprouts granny glasses and an Afro, where else would we be but the 1970s?