Beijing, 1988. On the cusp of middle age, Chen Handong (Hu Jun) has known little but success all his life. As the eldest son of a senior government bureaucrat, he heads a fast-growing trading company and plays as hard as he works. Few know that Handong's tastes run more to boys than girls. Chen develops a relationship with a young boy named Lan Yu (Ye Liu) that goes farther than he ever wanted it to.