The story follows (Herjunot Ali), an orphan of mixed Minangkabau and Bugis heritage, who travels to his father's homeland in West Sumatra.

Zainuddin’s journey from a broken-hearted youth to a successful author in Java reflects a universal story of overcoming sorrow through personal growth and labor. Production and Cinematic Legacy

Using tools like Sora or Runway Gen-2, anonymous creators have generated on TikTok and YouTube Shorts. These AI clips show Hayati crawling out of the sea, or Zainuddin fighting a masked figure on a sinking deck. The watermark says "Pencuri Movie New." Because the visual style mimics 1990s Indonesian horror films, many older viewers believe it is a real, obscure film from the 1990s that was banned by the New Order regime.

: Zainuddin falls deeply in love with Hayati (Pevita Pearce), a beautiful woman of noble Minang descent.