赵闪闪（包贝尔 饰）是一位单纯善良的少年，默默喜欢着美丽女孩李春霞（孙怡 饰），两人考入了同一所高中，随着时间的推移，青涩的感情渐渐生根发芽，两人之间的距离越来越近。然而，来自学校和家长的压力让赵闪闪和李春霞不得不暂时分开，他们许下承诺，共同努力考入同一所大学，再续前缘。
然而，赵闪闪落榜了，深受打击的他陷入了郁郁寡欢之中。经历了种种波折，赵闪闪总算进入了理想的大学，然而，随之展现的丰富多彩的大千世界让赵闪闪眼花缭乱，李春霞那美好的身影渐渐在他的脑海里模糊起来。当赵闪闪发现自己内心真正的感情之时，一切都已经来不及了。

In his second feature, director/co-writer Hao pays rousing tribute to 'Er-ren-tai', a form of saucy musical performance closely associated with Hao's home region in the north-west near the Mongolian border. This colourfully accessible slice of backwater ethnography follows hapless hero Tiedan (Feng Si) from joyous childhood through to a maturity notable for an eventfully unorthodox love-life. Taking their cue from the Er-ren-tai songs themselves, which express passionate feelings in bursts of hyper-stylised intensity, Hao and his Korean editor Baek Seung Hoon sock over short scenes packed with freewheeling incident and comedy.

In Gu Jia Gou Village, 150 km from Beijing, men outnumber women. Some buy wives from faraway Sichuan province. Other remain bachelors; they gossip and complain together - yet find ways to have a sex life. Lao Yang is still in love with the girl he was forbidden to marry as a young man; she is now the middle-aged wife of the village head, but they sneak out for secret trysts. Yet, Lao Yang wants more...