Synopsis

On the outskirts of Yichang, Hubei province, on a hill called "Jianshan", where the director's father was once deported decades ago, an elderly couple in their eighties, a three-legged cat and a calf with autism live there. The couple, who have been together for 60 years, have conceived seven or eight children, all of whom have died one after another due to various misfortunes, with the longest surviving child being in his 40s. The two old men live as vicissitudes and persistence as the old stone house they live in. According to the laws of survival, the old man himself put to death the three-legged cat that had repeatedly bitten the chickens. After the old woman has fed it the last handful of corn stalks, the old man has no choice but to kill the calf that has never set foot outside the barn since it entered a year ago. The old house where the director's father used to live has fallen into decay through the winter and summer. In winter, the snowy ground, the old man trudging to this old spring to sluggishly pick water, which looks like a black and white stagnant image. The spring, the path, and the diving action were the same 20 years ago. The difference is the old man's vigorous pace and the vibrant and colourful summer.