The specific Korean tradition that is reclaimed in Seopyonje is the type of folk-song known as pansori, described as a musical sublimation of South-West Korea’s collective grief and suffering - in other words, a kind of blues. The film’s three central characters are itinerant pansori singers in the 1950s, a time when many aspects of Korean culture came under siege from Japanese and western influences. Dong-ho and Song-hwa, orphans, they were both apprenticed to the pansori master Yu-bong who pressured them to sacrifice everything for the art. Dong-ho rebelled and ran away, to become the man he is now. Song-hwa stayed, lost her sight, and outlived Yu-bong. Rumor has it that she is still travelling and still singing pansori…

Ten years ago, twin sisters So Yeon and Hyo Jin (Park Shin Hye) both fell into a river, claiming the life of Hyo Jin and leaving So Yeon comatose. Ten years later, So Yeon finally wakes up. Though she has lost her memory, she is troubled by what she can't remember, and often shows characteristics similar to her dead sister. As she recovers, the past slowly returns - the circumstances of the accident, the sisters' jealous rivalry over So Yeon's husband-to-be Hyun Sik (Jae Hee) - and a series of mysterious murders befalls the village.