Young teen girl Xiu Xiu is sent away to a remote corner of the Sichuan steppes for manual labor in 1975 (sending young people to there was a part of Cultural Revolution in China). A year later, she agrees to go to even more remote spot with a Tibetan saddle tramp Lao Jin to learn horse herding.
During the Northern Song dynasty, Lu Zhishen kills Zhen Guanxi and flees to Wenshu Monastery in Wutai Mountain and become a monk. However, he couldn't control his desire to kill and was sent by the elders of the Buddhist monastery to go to Daxiangguo Temple in Bianliang, the capital of Song...