Lin and Wang are a wealthy couple, approaching middle age in Beijing. They are childless, because she is infertile. He owns a foot-massage parlor. One afternoon he rapes one of his workers, Liu, who has nearly passed out from drinking alcohol with a friend. Part of the assault is witnessed by Liu's husband, An-Kun, a window washer. He's angry with the boss and with his wife, and attacks Lin's car furiously. He seeks compensation and tries to blackmail him. Lin's wife counsels him and joins in revenge. Then, Liu realizes she's pregnant and a set of emotional calculations ensues: Lin wants to buy the child, Wang agrees but she has conditions, An-Kun goes back and forth and barely contains his anger; Liu withdraws. The baby comes. Can anything be sorted out?
Ping guo
Modern-day life in Beijing is explored through the complex relationships between a young woman, her husband, her boss, and her boss's wife in a tangled web of love, power, and identity.
