Weihong works at an orphanage and dreams of marrying a certain paratrooper. Instead, however, she winds up in a loveless marriage with a government official who allows her to quit her much-disliked job. And yet, when the couple part a year later, Weihong’s only demand is that her husband help her return to her old job. Weihong then moves back in with her parents. Jealous of the special treatment her older brother receives from their parents because of his mental illness, Weihong and her younger brother attempt to poison him but ultimately fail. Deeply ashamed of both his siblings, Weihong for her failed marriage and the older brother for his mental problems, the younger brother decides to leave home. When he returns, he is missing a finger but brings a wife with him. Later, at a family outing to the zoo, the two brothers and their sister stand in front of the peacock compound, waiting for the bird to display his tail feathers but they end up waiting in vain.