This short novel by one of China's rising young authors sets conflict amid a pastoral, rural Chinese setting. In a dusty farm by the Five Horses River, a mysterious stranger named Ma Wu appears seeking work. The farmhands begrudgingly take him in while the Mistress of the farm looks for ways to make him useful. For the Mistress, her biggest headache on the farm has been the young girl Hong Gu, who is pregnant with the MasterAEs child. Trying to find an end to the humiliating gossip amongst the farmhands, the Mistress forces Ma Wu to marry Hong Gu. Just when the Mistress thinks that she has dealt with this ornery problem, a terrible crisis erupts on the farm when the bandits attack. Soon, a series of revelations and betrayals take place, and the farmhands find that their lives will never be the same again.