Wanglai, a corrupt grocer, has made a fortune hawking stones from a stretch of the Great Wall that runs through his mountain village and is obsessed with the legend of a golden treasure said to be buried beneath the Wall's tower. When he discovers his wife Xinghua cannot bear a son, she is abused, beaten and humiliated. Xinghua turns to Fulin, a neighbor as seemingly sensitive as Wanglai is crass. Wanglai, discovering their affair, is furious, but when he comes to punish Xinghua, she turns out to have suprising immunity.