A photographer is trapped in Cambodia during tyrant Pol Pot's bloody "Year Zero" cleaning campaign, which claimed the lives of two million "undesirable" civilian.
Sydney Schanberg is a New York Times journalist covering the civil war in Cambodia. Together with local representative Dith Pran, they cover some of the tragedy and madness of the war. When the American forces leave, Dith Pran sends his family with them, but stays behind himself to help Schanberg cover the event. As an American, Schanberg won't have any trouble leaving the country, but the situation is different for Pran; he's a local, and the Khmer Rouge are moving in.

In 1972 , the New York Times reporter Zinni interview in Cambodia , the Cambodian people Pandey is his translator and assistant , the two forged a deep friendship in war-torn . In 1975 , the Khmer Rouge occupied Phnom Penh , Zinni safe retreat into the French Consulate , Pandey was arrested without a passport . Pandey in Jian total labor reform policies after the catastrophe , and witnessed the brutal bloody Khmer Rouge regime in 1978 , the Communist Party of Vietnam invaded Cambodia , Pandey took the opportunity to flee to the Thai border , and have been looking for his old friend Zinni reunion . In 1975 , the Khmer Rouge occupied Phnom Penh , the implementation of its leader , Pol Pot , the communist ideal : the eradication of the city, Phnom Penh and other cities , millions of residents , young and old sick , and be driven to the countryside ; to eliminate class differences , property owners , intellectuals, Catholics , thought reform, transformation is not good , should be the eradication of the flesh ; great purge within the party , a large number of cadres and subordinate is executed . Pol Pot less than four years, the ruling Cambodia's population decreased by a third , accumulated over two hundred million people have been killed .