The film opens with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, followed by Japan's surrender to the Allied powers aboard the USS Missouri. Though Indonesian President Sukarno proclaimed Indonesian independence, the Dutch wanted to restore control over the Dutch East Indies, resulting in the Indonesian National Revolution. With the Dutch lacking the manpower to reoccupy their former colony, British and Indian forces land in Java including Surabaya to restore order (or control for those pro-Indonesian side) on behalf of the Dutch.