The story follows twelve-year-old Xiaoxian's memories of her family and her village. During seven days, the girl witnesses three deaths and two births, including the death of her own mother, who dies giving birth to her fourth sister.
Thirty-year-old college lecturer Shu Qiao is about to marry her long-term boyfriend and fiancé, successful banker Hu. The future has been written for her. However, during a visiting scholar programme to Europe, Shu encounters theatre director Fan in Prague, with whom she falls hopelessly in love.
The father of a deaf-mute individual born with a congenital condition has been missing for several years and is wanted by the police for murder. The police's visit to the family home led to the separation of three generations.
