In a Shanghai torn by war, he is the heir to a construction legacy living under an assumed name, while she is an architect returning from her studies abroad. A single Ming dynasty city brick brings these childhood sweethearts together again amid the ruins. He uses mortise-and-tenon joinery to shape the world; she draws mountains and rivers on her blueprints. The beams and pillars here are the backbone of the buildings, and the foundation of the rest of their lives together.
