100 years after the defeat of the local troops under Gen. Miguel Malvar in the Philippine-American War, the people of a Batangueño town would have lost its character typified by the Tagalog term "barako", meaning brave or courageous. Much worse, they have become subservient to their corrupt leaders who have been taking advantage of their ignorance and poverty. But they are slowly swayed to a new liberal direction by a small coffee club called "barakuhan" whose organizers see in it a reawakening of their native courage.
It is about a group of investigative journalists from a sub-par TV station who accidentally scores a scoop that a 21-year-old boy is looking around for his identity… he claims to be the son of the late director Lino Brocka, a known gay filmmaker.
After a drug lord is apprehended by the police, a syndicate does everything in its power to get him out of jail, since he has money that should be divided among the members, so a general's grandson is kidnapped to facilitate his release.
The filmmaker goes in search of his father, a former guerilla soldier who had walked out of the family a decade ago, and in the process discovers new things about himself, his family and the national legacy of war.
A story about Estelita a young girl who dreams of becoming a movie star like her idol Stella Fuego. In the course of Estelita's rise to stardom, she gets entangled in the corruption of show business and makes enemies along the way.