Brings viewers into a small Chinese city and inspires familiarity with the rhythms of everyday existence, with people's dreams, shortcomings and illusions in a way that is universal.

A young man recalls his childhood growing up in a poor alley in Beijing during the 1950s and 1960s.

The film follows several disaffected youth in the fictional Thirteen Princess High School in Chengdu. Feng, the film's protagonist, is a short-haired tomboy who has a love affair with the jock, Taotao. With the arrival of Bao, a student from Beijing, Feng finds herself gravitating to the new presence.

Wu Xueying comes back with her doctorate. Once at home, she hears of her brother's suicide and Mad Lu takes away her file case. The police believes that her brother was murdered.