The theme of the film is the transition towards consumer capitalism from a farming, peasant-based economy as China develops its rural areas.

One is a sixteen-year-old girl from a particularly poor family living on the banks of the Yangtze near Fengdu, named "Cindy" Yu Shui.

The film shows her acclimatization to the consumer economy of tourism as well as modern technology of the cruise ships, juxtaposed with her family and other older citizens who are displaced from a rural lifestyle to cities where they must pay for the vegetables they used to grow on their own.

[5] After filming concluded, "Cindy" Yu Shui returned home to finish her education while her family worked odd jobs.

The filmmaker Yung Chang published letters indicating that Yu Shui's father had serious eye issues that required surgery and a donation fund was set up.