In Taiping Town, a frail young girl named Liu Yuenu makes a living by crafting paper figures. Disdained by her brother, Yuenu lives alone in the mountains. Unexpectedly, within half a month, the siblings suffer tragic fates. One commits suicide in her bedroom, her blood staining the ground; the other is found hanged by a woman's long hair in a theater. Detective Zhang Yiren, invited by the town's old headman, arrives to investigate. On his arrival night, he encounters strange events, but is fortunately helped by a beggar girl named Gouzi. However, a series of bizarre murders occur in the town, and rumors of paper figures possessing souls and vengeful spirits begin to circulate…

It tells the story of Li Hongju, a Mao opera singer at the bottom of society, and her daughter who use their perseverance to support a Mao opera troupe and a broken family.