Nanxi Port on the south bank of Poyang Lake blocks the communication between villagers on both sides. During the flood season, the water surges and the ferry is often in danger. Eighteen-year-old Zhan Tanxiang married into the Shen family in Taoshuling, but her husband died shortly after the wedding. The young widowed daughter-in-law owns hundreds of acres of paddy fields and is deeply involved in the struggle for clan interests. Faced with heavy pressure to persuade her to marry and force her to take power, she chose to keep her family business and never remarried in her life. Seeing that the ferry people were in danger many times, Zhan Tanxiang decided to sell off his property and build a stone bridge across the harbor with his own money.
The road to building the bridge was full of thorns: obstruction by clan elders, financial constraints, bridge piers destroyed during the flood season, and endless rumors in the countryside. Everyone said that she was only trying to win praise for her chastity. In the 10th year of the Republic of China, the stone bridge was completed and awarded a commendation by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The villagers casually called it the "Widow's Bridge". Zhan Tanxiang accepted the name silently and quietly watched Nanxi Port until his old age.
Decades later, a devastating flood destroyed most of the remaining piers of the ancient bridge. Ding Wenzhou, a wanderer, returned to his hometown to look for old memories, visited his neighbors, looked up old records, and peeled away layers of labels. When the new cement bridge is about to start construction, a debate begins again about whether the ancient bridge should be retained. A pile of remaining granite reflects the wind and rain of the lake town for hundreds of years, asking the world how to understand the life of women trapped by the times.
