Qiang is a four-year-old boy who, in the People's Republic of China of 1949, is sent to one of Beijing's best schools by parents too busy with work to care for him. Qiang has to cope with community living, for him too harshly regulated by his educators. From inconsolable crying he quickly moves on to active disobedience, abetted by a girl his same age. When he manages to convince all his classmates that their teacher is actually a monster in women's guise the situation gets complicated.
