Poetic and occasionally humorous film, shot entirely on location with beautiful, almost documentary footage of the Chinese countryside.This is to be the last winter for Grandpa Ge. He is old and infirm, but still trying his hardest to make something of his life. Instead of pining away in hospital, he feverishly shapes his life; an eccentric individualist who is becoming demented, but persists when youths try to sway him. In the end he leaves town on a mule heading for his birthplace. He has one great ideal left: Grandpa wants to survive until spring when the fields are ploughed.
