Lin Shuran, a girl from a remote mountain village, earns admission to a top university, but her biological parents oppose her going to college because they favor sons over daughters. They plan to marry her off in exchange for the bride price needed for her younger brother. Her elderly grandmother risks her life to protect her granddaughter and takes her from house to house to borrow money, enduring cold stares and ridicule. At their most desperate moment, her paternal cousin and his wife offer all the bride-price money intended for their son to fund Lin Shuran's education and help her leave the mountains to pursue her studies.