Glass restorer Su Nian and aquarium trainer Shen Shiyu first meet beside the pool of Xingchen the beluga, brought together by a pane of cracked glass. She uses rosin to mend what is broken, while he patiently protects the ocean. Their hearts draw closer amid light and waves, and they tuck their love into glass stars, shell bracelets, and the harmonica notes of "My Heart Will Go On."
But the shadow of early-onset Alzheimer's suddenly descends, and Su Nian's memories fade like the receding tide. She forgets the formula for restoring stained glass, the confession made on a beach of glowing sand, and even the lover standing before her. Anchoring himself with a "Memory Book of Moments," Shen Shiyu records their past, stroke by stroke. He helps her feel Xingchen's warmth again and breathe in the scent of rosin, fighting merciless oblivion with repeated good mornings and lemon cake.
The passing of Xingchen the beluga, the failure of the glass keepsakes, and her gradually fading hearing bring despair ever closer, yet they make her instinctive love all the clearer. Before broken glass, she instinctively tries to piece it together. In her final moments, she softly calls, "Shiyu." When the deep-sea starlight lamp glows again, Su Nian closes her eyes in Shen Shiyu's arms, still clutching the whale bookmark.
For all the years that follow, Shen Shiyu returns to the seaside with the yellowed memory book and the unfinished glass painting, "Starlight in the Deep Sea," and retells their story. The scattered lights on the water are Su Nian's tenderness, left behind in this world, and their eternal promise to overcome oblivion.
It's pretty, I feel good-looking