Two party members escort a poet and political prisoner of the Cultural Revolution on a ship to Wuhan. They sleep in a cabin with other victims of the era, who sympathize deeply with the poet.

This is a film which has deep influence upon China in the 1980s. During the period of cultural revolution manipulated by the Gang of Four, Qiu Shi, a poet was sent by Li Yan and Liu Wenying secretly to a riverboat from Sichuan to Wuhan. All the way, different stories about different people take place. Qiu Shi met Juanzi and her father, Liu Wenying felt guilty.—Anonymous