Tiananmen Square

Beijing in the 1970s. Lai lives with her parents, grandmother, and younger brother in a small apartment in a working-class neighborhood. Her grandmother is a formidable figure, uncompromising but loving towards her granddaughter, while her aging beauty of a mother... reproaches her father—a fallen man who has found refuge in his work.

As Lai grows up, she begins to understand the realities of the country she lives in: an early encounter with the police haunts her for many years. Her father makes her understand that his calmness is a reaction to what he has experienced, while an old bookseller subtly introduces her to ideas and novels that open her mind to the new. Meanwhile, Lai experiences what any person in their youth goes through: the ups and downs of friendship, problems and failures at home and in school, the first steps and mistakes in love.
Gifted student Lai receives a scholarship to study at the prestigious Peking University; there she meets new friends and starts participating in student protests that are gaining momentum. It is the late 1980s, and change is in the air...