the scene then cuts to three years later, in 1978. a street parade is taking place in saigon (since renamed ho chi minh city) to celebrate the third anniversary of the reunification of vietnam and the defeat of the americans ("morning of the dragon"). thuy, a commissar in the new communist government, has ordered his soldiers to look for the still-corrupt engineer. thuy orders the engineer to find kim and bring her to him. although the intervening period is not shown, it is apparent that kim and chris have become separated in the intervening three years. kim has been hiding in an impoverished area, still in love with chris and steadfastly believing that chris will return to vietnam and rescue her. meanwhile, chris is in bed with his new american wife, ellen, when he wakes from a dream shouting kim's name. ellen and kim both swear their devotion to chris from opposite ends of the world ("i still believe").