Double Karma

Min Lin, an American photographer whose father came from Burma, travels there in 1988 hoping to explore his father's homeland and strengthen his portfolio. He arrives just as pro-democracy activists are working to topple the military government, and he is pulled into their cause after falling for one of their leaders. When she is arrested, he flees into the jungle, joins the rebels, and meets a Burmese army captain who looks exactly like him.

An explosion kills the soldier, and Min wakes in a hospital where he is mistaken for a hero of the regime. To survive, he takes on the dead man's identity. He gets out of the country in 1990 and returns to the United States, where he builds a new life while coming to understand his sexuality. Years later, he learns a secret about his family's past in Burma.

That discovery draws him back to the country, now called Myanmar, to record a fresh wave of religious persecution and ethnic nationalism. The events of 1988 still haunt him. When he learns that his ex-girlfriend is about to be released from prison, he must face what he did and search for the truth about the man he met on the battlefield long ago.