During the Japanese occupation of China, two prisoners are dumped in a peasant's home in a small town. The owner is bullied into keeping the prisoners until the next New Year, at which time they will be collected. The village leaders convene to interrogate the prisoners. The townspeople then struggle to accommodate the prisoners. One is a bellicose Japanese nationalist, the other a nervous translator. Will the townspeople manage to keep the prisoners until the New Year?

The disastrous Sichuan earthquake is the backdrop to the drama of a little girl who, despite finding herself living with strangers, creates a symbiotic and life-saving bond with her grandmother.