During the Japanese occupation of China, two prisoners are dumped in a peasant's home in a small town. The owner is bullied into keeping the prisoners until the next New Year, at which time they will be collected. The village leaders convene to interrogate the prisoners. The townspeople then struggle to accommodate the prisoners. One is a bellicose Japanese nationalist, the other a nervous translator. Will the townspeople manage to keep the prisoners until the New Year?

After being steeped in Chinese traditional culture for 30 years, CHEN went to Paris in 1984. The different cultural environments of China and France enabled him to grow into a unique figure in the field of classical music. CHEN neither seeks approval from the West, not even his advisor Olivier Messiaen, nor caters to China. Instead, he uses his personal musical language to tell Eastern stories.