In a grimy provincial industrial city, a talented but unattractive schoolteacher dreams of an operatic career.

The story takes place in wartime Guangzhou before the country’s liberation by the Communist Party of China in 1949. A young woman named Qiu Xi is a “boat person”, or Tanka, living in the coastal area of Guangdong Province. Qiu Xi becomes a servant to Yan Haiqing, played by actor Guo Xiaodong. She finds herself falling for the undercover communist agent who works with the Kuomintang regime that ruled China until 1949. The story unfolds as the two fall for each other but are kept at distance because of the wartime situation.

In the late 1930s, the Japanese army occupies Shanghai. Barber Lu Ping kills a Japanese officer by accident and then escapes from Shanghai to the residence of his master's brother, Song Fengnian. When he arrives at the small town, he falls in love with Song's daughter Jiayi at the first sight. However, Jiayi has had the engagement with an officer for a decent life in the wartime, even as concubine. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Lu is sentenced to death as a traitor because Song, his boss, has worked for the Japanese. When he closes his eyes and waits for the sound of shot, Jiayi rescues him. Arranged by her husband, Lu becomes an officer. However, he can never forget Jiayi and his barber life. After the end of the Civil War, Lu is sent to work on a farm in the northwest. There he learns that Jiayi doesn't leave with her husband and has been waiting for him at the small town where they meet for the first time. Lu decides to look for Jiayu.

A modest family of 4 goes on a spending extravaganza after finding a bag of 3 million dollars while the criminals to whom it belongs track them down to get it back.

The tale of one man who fought against the tyranny of a ruler and led his people in battle in the ultimate sacrifice for his country.