The vacationing policeman stays at the "Five Incense" homestay, where there are also detective novelists, vagabonds, and a pianist played by Cao Enqi. With the death of the homestay owner and the waitress, the identities of all the people in the homestay are suddenly unclear. All are suspects, and all are detectives. The "Five Incense Homestay" is filled with mystery overnight.What unknown secrets are hidden behind everyone?Are their identities really as simple as they seem?Will everyone try their best to clear their own suspicion while becoming the cannon fodder of others?
In 1945, Harbin has come under the rule of Japan's puppet state known as Manchukuo. Communist agent Song Zhuo Wen successfully infiltrates Harbin Secret Service where Guan Xue holds a post as the chief of special police.
Chen Wangdao returns from his studies in Japan and takes on the task of translating the Communist Manifesto, which changes the course of his life.