A seventeen-year-old country boy working in Beijing as a courier has his bicycle stolen, and finds it with a schoolboy his age.

To Qiu Shui, a young lad in his most hungry, curious, and restless 20s, the whole world feels a little erotic. Studying at China's top medical college, he can break down men's carnal impulses with solid human anatomy knowledge but can't grasp the inner desire that draws him to three disparate romantic interests-the fairy-like hometown first love, the marriageable college girlfriend, and the sensuous working woman.

Sitian, a Chinese American conductor, returns to China to give a concert and to find her three siblings again, after having been separated from them for years after the death of their parents.

The young adult life of Hong Yunsheng, nicknamed Little Brother, is seen as somewhat of a failure by those that know him. A Chinese national, he stowed away on a boat to the United States, where he worked as a dishwasher in the restaurant of a family from his hometown back in Fujian province. After two years in the States and after fathering an illegitimate child there named Fusheng, the child's mother Xuhui who is the restaurateur's daughter, he was deported back to China. Since, he has been floundering in life, which has caused a rift between himself and his older brother, who, with his wife, operate a street front diner and can't have children of their own. Little Brother relies on his new girlfriend, a woman he barely knows named Wu Ruifang who is a performer in a touring opera troupe, for emotional support. Despite Little Brother being the local poster boy for not stowing away, his friend named Monkey tried to do the same, but died on the voyage over due to exposure to toxic ..