Synopsis: The story of a family set against thirty years of Chinese history. It starts in the last year of the Cultural Revolution (1976), when the little 9-year-old Xiangyang re-encounters the father he can't remember - a father who has spent the last six years of his life in a work camp. During this time, Xiangyang has grown fond of his independence, of playing with other children and roaming the streets of Beijing. But his father decides to make up for lost time, and the happy-go-lucky boy starts sensing that the fun is about to end.