The Miao are one of the 56 ethnic groups that live within the borders of China. In Basha, a Miao village in southern Guizhou province, there is a strange mixture of past and present. While the village inhabitants continue to cultivate their old traditions and customs, the city dwellers from surrounding urban areas flood to the town attracted by the charm of an era that seems archaic when compared to modern city life.

The affluence that tourism brings changes the habits of the local Miao. Gun Yuan Liang, the entrepreneurial leader of Basha, becomes aware of the unique characteristics of his village and the symbol that the villagers life represents to the globalized world. Gun Yuan Liang gradually develops the tourism industry of his township even further, adapting the traditional village lifestyle to the impositions of its visitors. Eventually, Guan Yuan Liang’s wife decides to leave him without notice to find out what life in a metropolitan city might bring to her. When Gun Yuan Liang´s new ventures in Basha finally provide him with some capital to spend on himself, he decides to go to the city of Guangzhou to bring his wife home.