Xi Gan Dao is a grim industrial city in northern China, very far from Beijing and a mean and desolate place. The time is just after the Cultural Revolution in the 70s.
Young Li Siping stays alive through petty theft, spies on the women working in a factory and tries to repair a little radio to get in contact with the world…
One day a young woman arrives from the capital. Finally Li Siping believes hes found a meaning to his life. But one day he has to leave for military service…