The satirical portrayal of rural life is considered part of the sixth generation movement that began in the early 1990s.

[1] Mai Qiang is a 30-year old bachelor, withdrawn, with little in his life besides his job at an isolated signal station along the Yangtze River and his ink drawings he uses as toilet paper.

Chen Qing is a hotel clerk, a widow with a young child and an undemanding relationship with her boss Lao Mo.

Lao believes she has been raped, so he reports the crime to Wu Gang, the neighborhood cop.

Since its release in 1996, Rainclouds over Wushan has slowly gained a reputation as a key film in the sixth generation movement of Chinese cinema.