Chen Yu, a proud and sensitive college student, is crushed when her family is suddenly hit by one misfortune after another: her father is left disabled, her younger brother needs a bride price, and the family is drowning in loan-shark debt. After repeatedly losing jobs for being “immature,” she enters the Golden Dream nightclub to make money fast and becomes a hostess. At first she resists the work and feels humiliated. Gradually, she learns to wear a mask and handle all kinds of customers. Using her identity as a college student, she becomes the club’s top hostess, but she also witnesses the industry’s dark side, the tragedies of her fellow hostesses, and the hypocrisy of human nature. When her health begins to fail, she faces violent threats and finally cuts ties with her family for good. After using every means at her disposal to save enough money, she severs all ties with her past. In the end, she leaves for a faraway place under a new name and opens a small noodle shop, hoping to find peace amid the hardships of an ordinary life and redeem herself.
Real and objective, realistic themes