Ivan, a young ethnic Russian, returns to his hometown after years of wandering in the outside world. His family still complains about his departure, and Ivan hides the fact that he is divorced and unemployed. Soon after returning home, Ivan escapes to the town. He meets his Tatar boss, Zhefati, and his tenant, Xiaoyu, in an inn. An early change has torn apart Zhefati's family, and over the years he has been mired in pain and self-loathing, staying away from friends and family. Xiaoyu inquires about her father's work as a night watchman at the town's lake two years earlier, and she moves there to work as a short-term laborer at the local tavern. The three men are hosted in a hotel in the middle of a snowstorm and all seem to be looking for a way out.