The story is adapted from Pu Songling's original book Liao Zhai's Strange Stories. The story is about the murder of a number of men in Jinning City. As the mystery unfolds, the legendary banshee turns to be the work of a female demon. The demon-hunter Gu Shijie battles with the demons and the heroes in a battle of wits.
The year is 1957. An army general's wife gives up the conveniences of an urban existence to follow her husband, Gan Zuchang, to his native place-an impoverished village in East China's Jiangxi province. The couple begin life afresh there as farmers and aid the impoverished villagers.
Five young girls in a remote mountain village each find themselves forced into unhappy marriages. Together, they find solace in an old legend, that a girl may hang herself before marriage and retain her purity, her soul turning into a white bird and soaring to the heavenly garden, where there is only beauty and peace.