Min Ji-sok (Kim Ji-mee) is the no-nonsense owner of a cafe in the tough port town Sokcho. Her ‘girls’ serve more than tea or coffee, if a male customer purchases the right ticket. Ji-sok has just taken on three new girls: the experienced but ditzy Miss Yang, tough cookie Miss Hong, and the innocent Miss Yun. Against the background of their sorrows and moments of happiness, we learn the story of how Ji-sok herself ended up in dead-end Sokcho.

The production company backing this gritty yet beautiful film was controlled by star Kim Ji-mee. Rather than use the film as a vanity project for her diva status, she allowed her ensemble of younger actors free rein in developing their roles. The acting, strong script, and artistic photography makes Ticket much more than another ‘hostess’ film (a genre which had mixed cliched melodrama and exploitation in tales of young women, seduced, abandoned and fated to a life of prostitution).