A young woman in the 1920s has a hard life and learns sympathy for her own mother's situation.

The scholar Zhang Yudan accidentally encounters Lu Feifei, the daughter of the District Magistrate Lord Lu, while she is out hunting, and instantly falls in love with her. Unexpectedly, Feifei dies a sudden death due to the heavy karma incurred from her excessive killing of animals. Lord Lu buries his daughter within the secluded temple where Zhang is staying to study. Note: This film is adapted from the chapter "The Daughter of Lord Lu" in "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio".

Xiang Zi is a rickshaw boy who has always had a desire to excel and a thirst for freedom. He married Hu Niu who died of dystocia later. After her death, another girl, Xiao Fuzi, falls in love with Xiang Zi but they are separated by poverty. Xiang Zi works very hard in order to change his life, only to find that Xiao Fuzi is dead just as he begins to be hopeful for their future. Finally, Xiang Zi, an unflinching man, surrenders to that dark society.