Adapted from Yu Hua's novel of the same name. The rich young man Fugui (Ge You) is addicted to gambling. After his wife Jiazhen (Gong Li) tried to persuade him repeatedly but to no avail, she left him with their daughter Fengxia. That night, Fugui lost all his family property, which angered his father to death. He was forced to rent a shabby house by selling his mother's jewelry. A year later, Jiazhen took Fengxia's hand and returned home with their newborn son Youqing in her arms. Fugui changed his ways and began to live a peaceful life by performing shadow puppetry. But good times don't last long. During the civil war, Fugui was arrested by the Kuomintang and forced to work as a laborer. After returning to his hometown to reunite with his family, Fengxia became mute due to illness. In the subsequent Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution, although he gained some small blessings, adversity always followed him.