Northeast China, 1971, during the Cultural Revolution. At a time of heightened military tension between China and the Soviet Union following the 1969 Zhenbao Island Incident, soldier Jiao Mingliang is accidentally killed while rescuing a young boy, Li Duoduo, during the collapse of an air-raid shelter. His widow, young Luo Xuemei (Zhou Chuchu), is co-opted by the Red Army authorities into making heroic propaganda out of his death by hastily staging an opera, using music from other model operas. Later, while working at the Red Star Munitions Factory, Xuemei meets handsome Zhu Fuzhong (Shang Yubo), a weapons tester, who had earlier written her an anonymous letter sympathising with her exploitation, and the two start a clandestine affair. Factory director Du Yuchun (Dong Jiang), a widower with a nine-year-old son, asks her to participate in radio broadcasts with Zhao Haiqiang (Shawn Xiao). When she turns down Du's offer of marriage and promotion, Du forces her hapless fellow worker, Li Xianling (Andy Sun), to spy on her and Fuzhong.