SYNOPSIS

Under the gloomy sky of a small town in northern China, different protagonists’ lives are intertwined in this lugubrious tale of nihilistic rage.
To protect his friend, 16-year-old WEI Bu pushes the school bully down the staircase and escapes the scene after the bully becomes hospitalized with his life hanging by a thread. WEI’s neighbor, the 60-year-old WANG Jin, is estranged from his family and decides to join him. HUANG Ling, WEI’s classmate, is bedeviled by an affair with the school official. Together, the desperate three decide to flee as the wounded bully’s hooligan brother, the school authorities and the parents all go on a cold-blooded hunt for WEI across town. As WEI treads through the wilderness, he finally confronts his own reality. In the end, he boards a long-distance bus with HUANG and WANG toward Manchuria, where a circus elephant is said to be sitting still.