The film constitutes the second entry in Wang Chao's loose trilogy on modern China.

Day and Night tells the story of a miner, Li Guangsheng (Liu Lei), in a fictional northern Chinese city who carries on an illicit affair with the wife of his friend and father figure (played by Orphan's Sun Guilin).

The film was shot in Wuchuan County, Inner Mongolia, near the provincial capital of Hohhot.

Critics such as Derek Elley derided the film as a "curiously lifeless item that falls short of its seemingly mythic intent.

[3] The film did manage to garner one major award, however, with the Golden Montgolfiere at the 2004 Nantes Three Continents Festival.