13-year-old Wei Minzhi, who can barely read or write herself, is chosen to take over her impoverished village’s one-room schoolhouse when its sole teacher must suddenly leave for one month to care for his ailing mother. Minzhi is promised extra money to ensure all the students are still there when he gets back, but one goes missing, and she must do everything she can to get him back.  Minzhi enlists the 26 remaining pupils in earning money for her trip. She hitches to Jiangjiakou City and begins her search. The boy, meanwhile, is there, lost and begging for food. Minzhi’s stubbornness may be the boy’s and the village school’s salvation.