Winter Letters from a Small Town in the Snow Country

In the border town at 45 degrees north latitude, it is covered with heavy snow from October to April every year. The town made a living from logging and fishing, and the economy was depressed. Young people left one after another, leaving behind mostly the elderly and those who were unable to travel far. There is no hospital here, just a retired doctor who treats illnesses with herbal medicine and common sense. The town relies on a monorail to connect to the outside world, with trains running twice a week, often shut down by avalanches in the winter. Class differences are reflected in the following: local residents are mostly of Korean or Manchu descent, speak dialects and live a simple life; outsiders such as painters, writers and other seasonal travelers stay in the only hotel in the town and are regarded as "transient travelers." The people at the bottom chopped firewood, fished, and did handicrafts in the severe cold of minus 30 degrees Celsius, living in silent mutual assistance. The snow kept falling, covering all the secrets and making parting silent. The heroine is a young painter from Seoul who was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor and only had half a year left to live. She escaped from the hospital and the care of her family and came to this snowy town alone, wanting to die quietly in the purest white.