Shen Qinian is an independent painter in Beicheng. He runs a quiet small studio deep in an alley and lives a poor but comfortable life. One rainy autumn day, Lu Xingzhou, the president of Lu Group, accidentally walked into the studio and entered his life in the name of buying paintings. After that, Lu Xingzhou enveloped Shen Qinian with his calm tenderness - accompanying him to see exhibitions, taking him to Iceland to chase the aurora, and cooking him a bowl of egg noodles at three in the morning. Shen Qinian thought that he had met the most trustworthy person in his life, and he gave all his sincerity without reservation.
However, by chance, Shen Qinian discovered the secrets locked deep in Lu Xingzhou's study - an old diary, a yellowed photo, and a faded red rope. The boy in the photo is named He Yan, and his facial features are somewhat similar to his own. He Yan was Lu Xingzhou's first love. He died in a car accident six years ago. The day Lu Xingzhou walked into the studio was the anniversary of He Yan's death.
Shen Qinian finally understood that those tenderness might not be for him, but those gazes might be directed at another person. He quietly left before the arrival of spring and returned to the southern town of Tongzhen to rebuild his life with a paintbrush. But Lu Xingzhou stayed in the empty studio, facing the unfinished winter scene of Shichahai, and finally realized that what he had lost was never a stand-in.
After seven years of separation and separate growth, an art exhibition, an illness, and an invitation on New Year's Eve brought the two people together again by the stone bridge in Tong Town. Some wounds take time to heal, and some people need to walk a long way before they are qualified to start over.
Intention: Learning to say goodbye is harder than learning to love, but only by letting go of obsession can we truly have the courage to start over.