The purpose of love is consciousness. In 1989, lonely and confused art student Insung Hwang expresses his existential angst in a sketch-book that becomes a 22-year diary of unrequited loves. At twenty-three he escapes parental bondage for college only to be trapped by the clutches of religious dogma and self-betrayal. Tormented to find true love he suffers countless rejections, displaces his home and unmasks the yearning for self-importance.