In the 1990s, a group of students on the campus of the Chinese Southern Academy of Arts are pursuing their studies and preparing to face the world. China is opening up to the West and the students’ lives are a tangle of love stories and friendships, artistic research, ideals and ambitions brought about by new influences. Caught between tradition and modernity, they have to decide who they want to become.
Due to the financial crisis, many factories in China are forced to close their doors in late 2008. Zhang Xiaojun loses his job in a shoe factory. One day, a supermarket guard beats him up, thinking Zhang is a thief. In vain, he asks the supermarket manager for financial redress. Zhang’s dearest wish is to return to his village and become a farmer. But right before his departure, the police arrest him. The supermarket manager also has his problems. On a moonlit night, the storylines converge in a teahouse near the city rampart.
This is to be the last winter for Grandpa Ge. Instead of pining away in hospital, he feverishly shapes his life; an eccentric individualist who is becoming demented, but persists when youths try to sway him. Grandpa wants to survive until spring when the fields are ploughed.