During the Cultural Revolution, two young men are sent to a remote mining village where they fall in love with the local tailor’s beautiful granddaughter and discover a suitcase full of forbidden Western novels.

Gao Chun, a young captain, steers his cargo boat up the Yangtze river. His father has recently died and, according to his beliefs, his son is now responsible for liberating his soul. At the same time, Gao Chun is looking for the love of his life. But all the women he meets in all the different ports are the same person: a magical being who grows ever younger the closer he gets to the source of the Yangtze. His trip up river turns into a journey through space and time.

Four independent stories set in modern China about random acts of violence.