In the English speaking world it has been released in the United Kingdom under the title Women from the Lake of Scented Souls (the more literal translation) and more recently on DVD as Woman Sesame Oil Maker.

[2][3] Illiterate villager Second Sister Xiang (Siqin Gaowa) was sold as a tongyangxi (child bride) to her present husband, a man with a lame leg, when she was seven.

She has an intellectually disabled son Dunzi, who suffers from epileptic fits and is now grown up, and a younger daughter Zhi'er.

She engineers her son's marriage with Huanhuan (Wu Yujuan), a peasant girl whose family is in dire financial straits.

Sister Xiang falls ill. She is heartbroken, despite her sesame oil being awarded top prize by the provincial government.