A gritty portrait of a group of outcasts in a fading Chinese city circa 2004. With his father requiring costly and continual hospital treatment, the aimless Dongzi (Li Jiuxiao) works as a debt collector for the local mafia. Further complicating things, he's in love with the boss's wife (Huang Miyi), a troubled tattoo parlor owner who dreams of divorcing her husband and escaping her dead-end life.