This is the story of a blind masseur who tricks people, steals, and kills; he is the anti-Zatoichi.

An ailing famous barrister agrees to defend a man in a sensational murder trial where his self-possessed wife's unconvincing testimony confuses him.

In the early 1990s, Xiaolei, who lives in a small village in western China, longs for a summer holiday without homework after he graduated from primary school. However, it is filled with boring routine, and Xiaolei feels the anxiety around him. When his father has left, Xiaolei realises that his life is completely changed.

June 14, 1941, 3 a.m. Over 40000 people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are deported by Soviets to Siberia. Among them is a philosophy student Erna, a happily married mother of a little girl. Separated from her husband, Erna and her daughter are dispatched together with other women and children to remote Siberian territories. Despite hunger, fear and brutal humiliation Erna never in next fifteen years loses her sense of freedom and hope of returning to homeland.