Set in China in the 1980s or 1990s, the film tells the story of Li Ming, a young orphan of the Tangshan earthquake, who leaves to study at the home of a renowned botanist.

A secretive man and commanding father, he lives on an island that he has transformed into a luxurious garden.

Anxious to share this solitary life, his daughter, An, welcomes with joy the arrival of the female student.

Before he dies, he tells police that it was his daughter and daughter-in-law's homosexuality "disease" that killed him.

It was shot in northern Vietnam instead (mainly in Ba Vì and Hà Tây) to create a similar environment.