Synopsis

Deep in the mountains of China there is a large rock known as the Baby Selling Stone. People forced to sell their children for reasons such as poverty often wait by the stone for buyers.

One winter, it was still snowing in February. After passing the Baby Selling Stone on his way home from working outside the village, Yang Silang returned with a baby boy. He called him “Er Dong”. Soon after, Yang Silang died. His widow raised Er Dong on her own. Er Dong grew up obstinate. The more his mother doted on him, the more unruly he became. He was a big headache for her—messing about with a shotgun, getting into fights, and riding around on a motorbike. She sent him away to board at a Christian missionary school. He ran away from the school, eloping with a girl called Yang Chang’e. Then Er Dong began to discover just how hard life can be. When Chang’e got pregnant, he was forced to return home and get married. Shouldering his responsibilities, he began to wonder what life was all about. However, industrialization has been developing rapidly in the countryside, and Er Dong discovers it is harder than ever to make something out of his life.