In an attempt to escape a bad living situation, Don breaks into an apartment and steals a new life for himself. In this space, he begins to shed the artifacts of his previous self and take on the essence of the person who lived there before him. When difficulties make Don leave his sanctuary, he meets a fellow tenant named Toni and quickly becomes enraptured.

This is a riveting narrative of the life of Tia Zhang, a young Chinese ballerina who came of age during the reign of Mao Zedong.