Gordel van Smaragd plot
Theo Staats arrives at his uncle's rubber plantation in 'Our' Indies, De Gordel van Smaragd. He meets Ems, the beautiful singer of the society and falls head over heels for her. Ems, of poor Indonesian-European descent, does not want to lose her Dutch husband to whom she owes her status, but cannot suppress her feelings. Gordel van smaragd follows their passionate affair for ten years: from 1939 when the Dutch enjoy their colonial power carefree; through the Japanese invasion in 1942 and the difficult war years that will separate the lovers; until the struggle that led to Indonesian independence in 1949, when they faced a new choice.