It is the late 1920s when six-year-old Yingzi and her family move to Beijing. As Yingzi explores the busy streets and alleys, she befriends a widow who, driven mad by grief, stands vigil at the entrance of her hutong, waiting for her missing daughter to return.
An old mother of five struggles to get by after her husband is killed during the liberation war. The simple and kind-hearted Ah-Fu stumbles across them, and tries to help them as much as he can.
A medical student is admitted to hospital with a mild neck injury, but her condition deteriorates rapidly and she dies in agony. Her classmates conclude that her death was due to malpractice, but they are blocked at every turn in their investigation.