Story of a young girl Niu Niu, who was abducted by members of Jiang San's crime syndicate and describes the difficult experience of Niu Niu's mother and father in their search for their daughter

When Song Wei's fiancee Luo Qun is denounced as a right-wing traitor by Party official Wu Yao, he is sentenced to ten years' hard labor. Song Wei breaks off her engagement, and eventually marries Wu Yao. Years later, after the Cultural Revolution, political currents have shifted; Song Wei demands that her husband, now a powerful Party official, seek Luo Qun's rehabilitation, but Wu Yao has no desire to open up old political and emotional wounds.