Alima worked for a Dutch family as their babu—nanny—in the former Dutch East Indies. A young woman’s voice tells her story of how she came to work for the family, taking care of their baby Jantje. She accompanies them for a short stay in the Netherlands. Upon her return, she lives through Japanese occupation (during which the Dutch family is put in internment camps), and the battle for Indonesia’s independence. Throughout these years, Alima is devoted to the child, but at the same time she’s loyal to her lover Riboet, who’s an independence fighter.
Told from Alima’s perspective, the film is more than an account of changing relationships in Indonesia: first and foremost, it’s about Alima’s development as an individual, breaking free of social restrictions to become an independent woman. Using unique, never-before-seen images from various archives in the Netherlands and Japan, it tells a universal story about the empowerment of women.