Less than a year after Japanese troops withdraw from China at the end of World War II, Yuwen remains despondent within the confines of her small, ravaged town. Her ailing husband, Dai Liyan, sleeps in a separate bed (in a separate room), and the couple has long given up the thought of having children. Enter Zhang Zhichen, Dai Liyan's old friend from college, who falls in love with Yuwen. The Dai household will never be the same again.