[2] The film follows Hu Yuyin (Liu Xiaoqing), a young and hardworking woman in a small, Chinese town on the eve of the Cultural Revolution.

Yuyin is supported by Party members Li Mangeng (Zhang Guangbei), who once wanted to marry her, and Director Gu (Zheng Zaishi), a war veteran in charge of the granary.

The team is led by Li Guoxiang (Xu Songzi), a single woman, assisted by Wang Qiushe (Zhu Shibin), a former poor peasant who has lost his land because of his drinking.

She falls in love with Qin Shutian (Jiang Wen), who had come in the 1950s to collect local folksongs but was declared to be a member of one of the Five Black Categories.

[citation needed] Gilbert Adair of Time Out magazine gave the film his endorsement, calling it "a potent blend of the political and personal":