Liu Zhiyuan is just an ordinary suspense editor. But after waking up at the Wulan Grand Hotel in the foggy city of Haiwu, he discovers that all his identification documents, phone, bank cards, and even his DNA records have become those of Lin Mo, a nationally renowned writer. The real Lin Mo has “disappeared,” and Liu Zhiyuan has been thrown into a hidden prison deep in the snow-covered mountains of western Sichuan, Wuyin City, on the charge of “leaking state secrets through a novel.” This “land of disappearance,” shrouded in eternal fog, is ostensibly a reeducation camp, but in truth there is no way out.
Here, he meets Lao Qi, a veteran prisoner, and begins writing an epic novel in his cell, one he will never finish. His pen becomes his chisel, and the pages become his tunnel. Through nineteen long years of torment, he uses literature to fight the erasure of his identity, and hope to withstand the fog that never lifts.
When the truth comes to light, how will he climb out of the dark river with his “unfinished book” and reclaim his real name?
A Chinese version of The Shawshank Redemption: identities can be replaced and names erased, but hope can never be finished.
