Repressed by state-sponsored violence, a mystic is determined to remain on his land in the foothills of Mount Merapi. Nothing can change his determination to stay and keep practising his belief of being one with the mountain. On the other side of the ridge, a volcanologist—gaining knowledge from earth-sensing technology—declares that mitigation is the only way for humanity to survive the colossal eruption of Merapi that he predicts. Not far from where the volcanologists conducted their research, the sand mining industry blooms. While documented by a filmmaker, one miner contemplates the impact of sand mining and the extraction economy on the community, the mountain, and his psyche. Meanwhile, in Merapi, everything is connected to the presence of paramilitaries.

Formed between factual and fictional, future and past, material and incorporeal, scientific and magic, 'Monisme' reflects the intermingled relationships between people in Mount Merapi. Constructed through a spirit of collective filmmaking, the film trips to a place where actuality is intertwined with myth and legend.