Set in a Shandong village during the crucial Menglianggu Campaign between communists and nationalists in 1947, the film follows six women from various families as the (largely offscreen) civil war impacts their feudal existence.
Men Sheng (Li Lei) may be constantly getting into trouble because he speaks up when he shouldn't, but he's far from stupid. It's just that he has a lot to say, and says it incessantly. However, when his family runs into trouble, the young chatterbox manages to sort things out. His father is the village treasurer, and though he has only been accused of embezzling, the villagers have already ostracized him and everyone in his clan, without giving him a chance to clear his name or be properly convicted. Some other family difficulties set village tongues wagging, too, but Men Sheng, whose nickname is "Chatterbox," soon sets them wagging in the right direction.
La película nos muestra la vida de las cuatro esposas de un hombre rico que viven en una gran casa. El hombre es el dueño y señor y las mujeres son de su propiedad y cada día elige a una de ellas para pasar la noche, mediante la colocación de una gran linterna roja en la puerta de la habitación de la mujer escogida. Este rito da lugar al título y provoca las mejores situaciones de la película, al reflejar la tensión y la rivalidad producida en las mujeres cada atardecer, cuando esperan en las puertas de sus habitaciones ver en cúal de ellas lucirá esa noche la lámpara. Esas cuatro paredes, este patio interior, típico de las casas chinas, se convierten en un microuniverso -que no quiere saber que fuera hay otras alternativas- en el que hasta el más pequeño detalle adquiere la mayor relevancia.
The Public Security Bureau intercept a telegram notifying foreign agents to retrieve the "110 secret". Shi Yan, head of the Reconnaissance Section, starts a campaign of counter-espionage, but one of his agents is soon killed on board a train.
