Zhu Duyi is a young woman with a doctorate in literature. Having never met someone she liked, she tells her parents, who are urging her to marry, that she wants to remain single. Her mother slaps her, and Duyi retreats to the home of her close friend Xinhuo. Duyi's father, Zhu Hu, seeks out Xinhuo's father, Dunhuang, hoping to persuade Duyi to change her mind through Xinhuo. But Xinhuo supports Duyi, saying she regrets rushing into marriage at her parents' urging. Dunhuang and Zhu Hu are worrying about their daughters' marriage prospects when they receive a call from Dunhuang's father. He wants to gather people to "tell old tales," a folk custom from Meijiang in southern Jiangxi, to help renovate the earthen houses in their ancestral village, He Village. So they take Xinhuo and Duyi back to the countryside, hoping the story of their ancestor Denghua will change the young people's attitudes toward love and marriage. Duyi specializes in the Songs of Chu, and is delighted to go when she hears that the old aunt's folk custom of "telling old tales" resembles Qu Yuan's "Summons of the Soul." As she listens, Denghua's difficult life leaves a deep impression on her. Zhu Duyi records what she sees and hears during the trip, and through their conversations gradually comes to understand the meaning of Denghua's life. In the end, she meets and falls in love with one of Denghua's descendants, a rural planner.
