After Granny Min dies, an old iron box is left in the back room. Written on its lid are the words: “Return to the person named.” Wen Xu, a neighborhood mediator, assumes that finding the owner and returning the contents will settle the matter. But a night watchman's badge and an unsent letter bring to light an old story that no one is willing to claim.
Barber Chen Yueqin has cared for others and made decisions on their behalf. Wen Xu urges people to speak plainly, but gradually realizes that they, too, have been arranging other people's lives. The old apartment building is emptied, and the barbershop opens again. Wages, meals, rent, and one agreement after another that never gets settled force these familiar faces to learn how to live with one another again. Some things can be returned. Some debts must still be faced by the living.
