Synopsis

The Hexi Corridor in the late Qing dynasty. Ren Pingsheng is an old patrol inspector about to retire; his son Ren Yuan is to succeed him. A shipment of scriptures bound for the capital is stolen; the son gives chase and the father tries to stop him. A blacksmith's daughter wounded by the land, a migrant harvester defending his village's water source, an official staking everything on building a factory to save the nation: along a hard road, the scriptures change hands again and again. The search for them draws the father and son into a fight over water between an upstream and a downstream village. As the whereabouts of the scriptures come to light, father and son each draw their blades, seeking an answer to how a person should live this life.