Born in Mauritania and raised in Mali, Abderrahmane Sissako received a scholarship to study film in Moscow, after graduating from school. To learn Russian, he was sent to Rostov on the Don river for an entire year. On the endless train ride from Moscow to Rostov, he met Baribanga, an Angolan student who was going to the same language school. That year, far from home, the two Africans became friends. Almost two decades later, Sissako decides to search for Baribanga. Rostov-Luanda tells two stories, the search for the long-lost friend, that leads to an encounter with present-day Angola. It is also a personal retrospective, a film about departure and journeying, from Mauritania, to Mali and then to the former Soviet Union, and the new destination in the film, Angola. The film weaves histories of many countries and their intertwinement, the confusion of a continent becomes a sensual experience, and we perceive something of the history of Africa.

影片讲述30岁初头的女子阿雅（妮娜·美罗 饰）在婚礼当天逃婚让身边所有人感到意外。她并离开象牙海岸，远走来到中国广州，开始了自己新的人生篇章。在这片非洲侨民与中国文化交织的地区里，她遇到一名开茶叶店的男子王才（张翰 饰）并受雇打工。随着时间的推移，王才决定让阿雅开始接受茶艺的熏陶，两人彼此之间的关系变成了一段温柔的爱情。但是王才和阿雅之间的感情要面临过去的坎坷以及世俗的偏见所带来的考验。