Sam doesn’t think he has it in him to write another bestseller. So when a Vietnamese war veteran offers him a ton of money to tell his story, Sam thinks he’s found the answer to his creative and financial problems.

The price slowly becomes clear, as Mr. Lan reveals himself to be a die-hard communist with reparations on his mind for the “lies” told in Sam’s first book.

Sam thinks he can walk the line, by taking the money and shaping the old man’s story to fit his own worldview. How vague can you make the line between creativity and plagiarism? Thinking that he can bend those classifications to fit his desires, Sam finds himself defending his very way of life to someone who would destroy it.
 
Kicking the Embers asks questions of authorship and history. Who does it belong to and who gets to tell the story? What happens to the victims of the victims? And is there any place in our cultural conversation for a voice that calls our truths, lies, and sees our ideals as the cause of our problems.