Dam‐induced resettlers in Vietnam manifest their responses and resistances in many different ways. This is a multiple response that expresses itself at many different levels and is spatio‐temporally contingent. These actors can be individuals, families, groups of people or communities. Drawing on fieldwork in resettlement sites of the Sơn La hydropower dam in the north‐west of Vietnam, this paper explores how political responses and resistance among Sơn La's resettlers were produced through resettlement conditions. It examines intensive and violent struggles over the land and resources surrounding dam sites, and aims to understand why rural disputes in resettlement sites were often between villagers rather than with the state institutions and local authorities.