The Liberators begins in the city of Daejeon in South Korea. The year is 1980 and the country is ruled by a military regime that is imprisoning and disappearing suspected dissenters at an alarming rate. Twenty-three-year-old Insuk has fallen in love with a classmate at her university named Sungho. Her father Yohan approves of the match, but just as they're preparing to celebrate the union, Yohan fails to return home one evening. Insuk never sees him again.

Sungho and Insuk marry; their first night as man and wife sets the tone for their relationship going forward — Sungho's mother Huran, with whom he lives, lays a heavy guilt trip on the newlyweds for taking the bedroom, relegating Huran to a bed by the stove in the kitchen.

By 1988, Sungho and Insuk have a five-year-old son, Henry, and the family (including Huran) have relocated to San Jose, California. After years of ...