Zhou Heung Kong (Anthony Wong) runs the film projector in a Hong Kong cinema and staunchly embraces a left-wing viewpoint. Dedicated to his work, he screens movies over the course of decades, while also witnessing turbulent events of the times, including riots and other indicators of social change.

An old leper who owned a remote sorghum winery dies. Jiu'er, the wife bought by the leper, and her lover, identified only as "my Grandpa" by the narrator, take over the winery and set up an idealized quasi-matriarchal community headed by Jiu'er. When the Japanese invaders subject the area to their rule and cut down the sorghum to make way for a road, the community rises up and resists as the sorghum grows anew.