Gao Chun, a young captain, steers his cargo boat up the Yangtze river. His father has recently died and, according to his beliefs, his son is now responsible for liberating his soul. At the same time, Gao Chun is looking for the love of his life. But all the women he meets in all the different ports are the same person: a magical being who grows ever younger the closer he gets to the source of the Yangtze. His trip up river turns into a journey through space and time. Gao Chun encounters people who accompany him for a while, and then loses them again. He comes across a town that had to make way for the big Yangtze dam only to reappear elsewhere. He hears the ghost story of a girl who crept into the body of a merchant. He enters a pagoda that reverberates with the voice of the Buddha from all sides. And he immerses himself in the verses of an unknown poet that reveal secrets from his past and make him contemplate his own crimes and their atonement. Yang Chao's odyssey merges daily life in China with politics and poetry, outer and inner worlds to create a magical universe.