A secret archive documenting the earliest revolutionary work of the Chinese Communist Party—the "Central Archives"—was successfully protected through the resilience and sacrifices of its guardians (both Party members and non-members) amid the turmoil and bloodshed from 1931 to 1949.

Life on a small village in China during the last years of the Cultural Revolution takes a different course when the people is asked to prepare and perform a classic opera for government officials, entangling past, present and fiction.