In the mountains of southwest China, Qingsong Village is suffering through its third year of natural disasters. The production team's granary is empty, and village chief Wang Guicai, a local tyrant, has joined forces with black-market grain dealer Zhou Laosi to steal relief grain and monopolize the trade in essential supplies. The villagers are furious, but dare not speak up. The six members of Chen Tiedan's family are crammed into a leaky earthen house. His mother is gravely ill and has no medicine, while his little sister is so hungry that she's swollen with edema. After standing up to Wang Guicai, his father was beaten and branded a “saboteur of production,” leaving the whole family a laughingstock in the village.
