While she copes with the pressures of her final examinations, a bullied teenage girl forms an unlikely friendship with a mysterious young man who protects her from her assailants.

When it's time for the Chinese gaokao, the entire country comes to a standstill. For nearly 10 million high-school students, this two-day national college-entrance exam will determine where--and if--they get to study. It is not uncommon for the fates of entire families to hinge on the results. Like so many others, Nian has been focused on preparing for the exam at the exclusion of everything else and is all alone. A classmate has committed suicide and she has become the target of relentless bullying. Fate brings her together with small-time criminal Bei and the two of them seal a pact.

With tough Gaokao just around the corner--a two-day, make-or-break national college entrance exam held annually in China--and an ongoing police investigation in school, brilliant student Chen Nian, already has enough on her plate. She comes from an impecunious single-parent family, and she and her mother barely manage to eke out an existence. As if that weren't enough, privileged, spoiled, ruthless classmate Wei Lai and her close-knit team of bullies have picked her out, taking pleasure in making her life miserable. As problems keep piling up, Xiao Bei, a young teenage thug, enters Chen Nian's complicated life, offering friendship and a sense of protection. However, can Chen Nian handle the pressure before it is too late?—Nick Riganas