The film is set during a tumultuous time between 1971 and 1974, amidst the tail end of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. It follows two teenage boys, Luo Min and Ma Jianling, who embark on a journey to a secluded village nestled in the mountains of Sichuan province for re-education. Upon their arrival, they are met with intense scrutiny from the village Chief, who interrogates them about their so-called "reactionary backgrounds" in front of the other villagers. Luo's father, a dentist, once had the unique honor of fitting a false tooth for Chiang Kai-shek, while Ma's father is a respected doctor. The Chief further examines their belongings, brutally discarding items he deems bourgeois, including a cookbook. In a dramatic moment, he attempts to destroy Ma's cherished violin, but Luo cleverly intervenes, misrepresenting a piece by Mozart as a local "mountain song" titled Mozart is Thinking of Chairman Mao.
Once assigned a home, the boys dive into the local labor, engaging in grueling tasks that involve hauling human waste for fertilizer and laboring in a coal mine. Their lives change with the arrival of a spirited young girl, the granddaughter of a tailor from a neighboring village, affectionately known as the Little Seamstress](/actor/xun-zhou). She visits with her grandfather, captivated by Ma's violin performance. A trio friendship soon blossoms as both boys develop feelings for the Little Seamstress. Eager to enrich her life—given her illiteracy and thirst for education—the boys hatch a plan to pilfer a suitcase bursting with prohibited translated Western novels from Four-Eyes, a fellow re-education participant destined to return to the city. Luo takes it upon himself to read to the Little Seamstress daily, introducing her to literary giants like Stendhal, Kipling, and Dostoevsky; yet, she finds herself most entranced by Balzac's works.
As the bond deepens, the Little Seamstress finds herself in love with Luo. On the eve of his departure to visit his ailing father in the city, she reveals to him that she has a "problem," although she withholds details. Later confiding in Ma, she discloses her pregnancy, but stringent population control laws prevent marriage before the age of 25, and abortion without a marriage certificate is illegal. In a selfless act of friendship, Ma ventures to the city to seek help from a gynecologist acquainted with his father, pleading for a covert abortion. The gynecologist, moved by their plight, agrees to clandestinely visit the village for the procedure.
When Luo returns, the routines of life resume until one day, the Little Seamstress—now transformed by the literature they shared—makes a bold decision to leave the village in search of a "new life," despite the desperate pleas from both Luo and her grandfather. By 1974, both Luo and Ma find their paths leading back to the city, where Luo eventually establishes himself as a professor at a dental institute in Shanghai, while Ma pursues his passion for music in France and becomes a professional violinist. Fast forward to the late 1990s, Ma learns that their village will soon be submerged by the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. Fueled by nostalgia, he returns, hoping to reunite with the Little Seamstress, but all he brings back is a video chronicling the village's history and its residents, including the now-aging Chief.
In a poignant reunion in Shanghai, Ma shares his fruitless search for the Little Seamstress with his old friend Luo, who confesses to his own unsuccessful attempts to locate her in Shenzhen and Hong Kong. The film closes with haunting news footage of the now flooded towns and villages, juxtaposed with the youth of the three characters submerged underwater, encapsulating the profoundness of lost time and memories.
