Mount Yellow is the famous tourist attraction, the yellow mountain, in Anhui Province of China. In the early era of reforms, many peasants left their home and move to cities in search of jobs and better life, and many female migrant workers from the rural areas are from Anhui Province. Most of these female peasants found jobs as house maid and the protagonist in this movie is no exception. This film is about the experience of her and many like her, reflecting the reform from a personal perspective.
In the snowy countryside of northern China, Wen receives a telegram informing her that her father is dead. She travels to the city and finds he was branded a reactionary in the midst of the Cultural Revolution. She is distraught, and on the way home, she is harassed and attacked by thugs, but she stays in the home of a kind-hearted doctor.
