美国越战纪念碑原本可能沦为庸俗的政治宣传。但在一个不知名的大四学生的笔下，逐渐向华盛顿地下延伸而去的纪念碑体成为了记忆和创伤的保留。
本部纪录片讲述的是著名美国华人建筑师林璎和她的建筑作品的故事。她的作品基于这样一种朴素的愿望：让人们意识到周围发生的物质和精神意义上的一切。影像不仅展现出林璎本人极高的艺术素养，更记录下她在面对对作品质疑声音时出人意料的坚定强大之姿态。
让我们不要忘记，创作越战纪念碑时的她还只是一个大学学生。
以下精华片段节选自纪录片里林璎的毕业演讲词。在简短的演讲里，林璎简述了自己对艺术的看法，强调了艺术创作者在创造中的主体性：
"...as an artist flights to retain the integrity of the work so that remains a strong clear vision.
Art is and should be the act of an individual, willing to say something new, something not quite familiar. It is that collection of the singular personal visions transform from within the mind to the public, which is throughout time, throughout our history, come to form a definition of who we are and the way why we are. It is a dialogue with not only our peers, but with people and times both before and beyond our time.
Although each of us can be defined by the brief physical time that we as individuals exist, we have the ability to make that time extend far beyond our physical existence.
We are part of a collective consciousness connected to one another through time by our works, images, thoughts, and writings.
We communicate to future generations what we are, what we have been, hopefully influencing for the better what we will become."
