When autumn winds sweep plane-tree leaves across the roof of the school building, they always carry a subtle restlessness. Lin Wei, from Class 3, Grade 11, is the kind of girl who always sits by the window. She keeps pressed ginkgo leaves in her textbooks and fills her notebooks with formulas, yet whenever her mind wanders, she stares at the old plane tree below.
Then there's Jiang Che, who always dashes into class just as the bell rings. One day, while being made to stand outside, he leans against the railing beyond her window, twirling a pen between his fingers. With a grin, he asks, "Hey, do you think the speed at which leaves fall counts as free fall?"
One is a "good student," wrapped in rules and afraid of making mistakes. The other is a seemingly careless "troublemaker" with a hidden gentleness. Their paths begin to cross in autumn, as the cicadas fall quiet. From a physics experiment they are forced to do together to an unexpected walk across campus late at night, Lin Wei gradually discovers the scars and dreams hidden beneath Jiang Che's uniform, while Jiang Che comes to understand the longing and timidity behind her silence.
When plane-tree leaves carpet the entire track, they finally realize that the most precious thing about youth isn't getting the perfect answer. It's having the courage to catch the warm note someone passes you, and the unspoken "Me too" as you walk together beneath the falling leaves.
