Prayer meditation & appreciation of nature are the sacraments by which two monks live a simple life in Korean director Kim Ki-Duk's SPRING SUMMER FALL WINTER & SPRING A wise old monk (Oh Young-soo) is master to a young student & remains so throughout the changing seasons of the younger monk's life In springtime the young monk is a 5-year-old boy in summer he is a teenager in fall he is a 30-year-old man & in winter he is in mid-life The master & his student live in a tranquil house that floats in the middle of a pond hidden in a vast woodland Paddling their row boat to the edge of the pond they roam the forest collecting herbs for medicine observing animals & learning deep lessons about life When a woman brings her sick daughter to the monks to be healed a lustful relationship results between the daughter & the teenage monk Though sex is the appropriate cure for the girl the affair is a harbinger of evil for the monk whose innocence is replaced by corruption After paying for his sins over the course of many years the monk finds inner peace & is reborn A spiritual soundtrack & superb nature photography make this film a joy to watch & its story is rich with messages about forgiveness & inner peace