A hostess in Shanghai invites her secondary schoolmates to a reunion. They each reminisce about their lives, with some having difficulties in marriage or career. Some led destructive lives, while others contributed to the country.

Based on the famous novel of the same name by well-known author Ba Jin, this movie traces the decline of a large, wealthy family in the early part of the twentieth century. The story focuses on three brothers and how they respond to the expectation that they will each marry women whom their grandfather has selected for them. The lure of family money on the one hand and modern individualism on the other plays out differently among the young men. Critics consider this movie an indictment against feudal ideas.

Twin girls separated at birth are reunited when the one raised in poverty becomes a servant in the household of her sister, now the pampered wife of a warlord general.