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.
1920년대 중국, 송련은 대학을 중퇴하고 계모의 강요에 못이겨 지극히 봉건적인 가문인 진어른 댁에 네번째 첩으로 들어간다. 진은 네 명의 부인 중에 매일 한 명을 택해 잠자리를 같이하는데 선택 당한 부인의 처소에는 그날 밤 홍등을 밝히는 가풍이 조상 대대로 전해져 내려온다. 네 명의 부인들은 서로 시기하고 모략하는데 송련은 차츰 자신의 존재가 한낱 노리개에 불과하다는 것을 깨닫고 허탈감에 빠지고, 셋째 부인이 부정을 저질러 죽음을 당하는 것을 목격하고 미쳐버린다. 그러나 진은 다섯째부인을 새로 맞아들이고 중국 봉건 사회의 폐습은 수레바퀴 돌 듯 지속된다.
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.
