In Northeast China, a life unfolds amid the poverty of the early years of the People's Republic and all the ups and downs that follow. This is a true account of one ordinary person's life: he has owned a distillery and worked in animal husbandry, always full of hope, yet ending in crushing failure. He has lived through the Down to the Countryside Movement, Reform and Opening Up, layoffs and unemployment, and going into business. Along the way, he has been helped by benefactors and friends, tasted the warmth and chill of human relationships, and seen through the world's fickleness. Even the ordinary life of a little nobody has its moments of joy, like scattered points of starlight.
