At Spring Festival, families reunite and everybody hopes that misfortune and unhappiness will depart with the old year. This story takes place in a small snow-bound town in northern China, where amid the raucous revelry that prevails on this evening when everyone should be celebrating with family, one old couple finds themselves alone. Their children and in – laws do not arrive until the next day, making for a New Years Day that is full of joys, sorrows, color, life, and love.