Xu Linchuan, a staff member in the Inspection Office of the county government, is drawn into Qingjiang County's undercurrents of power after refusing to sign off on a suspicious report about an accident at a resettlement housing project. Misaligned details in the materials, from photo captions and crack numbers to old inspection forms, original photos from residents, and funding dates, all connect into a trail of clues. While others focus on positions, he looks at the evidence. While others bury the process in red tape, he finds the loopholes. From a low-level civil servant to the head of a region, he will use one document after another to bring hidden problems into the light.
