‘Where have all the parents gone?’ This haunting film from southern China seems to paraphrase Pete Seeger's famous anti-war song about missing flowers. Three young teenage girls − and one silent little sister who faithfully tags along − are in a small mountain village that would be considered a paradise if it wasn’t so poor, backward and unsafe. Most parents are far away in Shenzhen, or some other industrious metropolis. Left to their own devices, to the care of some unfit teacher or ageing grandparent, they are fighting off bullying classmates, sticking together where possible. The girls have to navigate unknown dangers when they decide to borrow money to pay for the long voyage to the city.
It is the beginning of a new day. Ziqiang, aka Fish Prince, is a fishmonger who gets along well with everyone. Niu Ji and Hao Ji are two rival fishball noodle stalls in the hawker centre. Business at Niu Ji is brisk because its fishballs are freshly made every day. Hao Ji is run by Hao Youcai and his wife, Luo Na. He is an honest man. An unreasonable woman, Luo Na often picks on Niu Wuyin of Niu Ji. A maid buys tofu from Amy and leaves her trolley at the stall. While she is in the toilet, an old lady claims to be her mistress and takes the trolley. Youcai, who helps the old lady with the trolley, is forced to compensate the maid. A psychotic man poses as a doctor and sneaks into Youcai’s house when Youcai’s mother leaves the door open. He is about to molest Youcai’s daughter, Meiying, when the telephone rings. Wuyin’s son, Shaowei, who is a real estate agent, is calling Meiying.