In the snowy countryside of northern China, Wen receives a telegram informing her that her father is dead. She travels to the city and finds he was branded a reactionary in the midst of the Cultural Revolution. She is distraught, and on the way home, she is harassed and attacked by thugs, but she stays in the home of a kind-hearted doctor.
Set in early 1980s, Xishan tuberculosis hospital. Three female patients lives in ward 16. A new one moves in and makes others think about their lives.
