2013, summer in South Korea. A normal, tough existence of a single woman. The filmmaker's mother. She is the protagonist of the film. Her bitterness is real and palpable. She is being observed and questioned about her living situation from the very personal perspective of her daughter. Simultaneously, Der bittere Apfel vom Stamm (The Bitter Apple from the Tree) reveals the modernization of South Korea. The city of Incheon, where Hana Kim's mother lives, is full of hope, offering delusional dreams to all. In associative and poetic language, the film brings us close to a woman within a social system as rigid as it is technologically advanced.