Su Wan, a doctoral student, has been secretly married to her adviser Jiang Chenyu for three years. At an academic conference, she discovers that she is only a footnote in his life. When he blocks her academic progress, she uses an anonymous preprint to open the doors of a leading institution. Moving from dependence to independence, she earns the right to put her own name on her work. Once the shackles of his power are broken, she gains not only academic respect but also, at last, learns to put herself first in a relationship of equals.