For the first time in years, when he learns that his estranged son is gravely ill, ageing fisherman Takata boards the train to Tokyo. When his son refuses to see him daughter-in-law Rie urges Takata to watch the videotape of a documentary his son was filming in rural Yunnan about the local traditional 'nuo opera'. Moved by what he sees, Takata vows to complete his son's work. Though laden with obstacles, his odyssey into rural China, the kinship he develops with a fatherless boy and the villager find out more...