Sanmao is an orphan who finds himself living on the streets of Shanghai in the 1930’s.  Stricken by poverty, he dreams of riches, and is given a break when a man named Wu Zifu gives both him and his friend Xiao Laizi grain.  Further information about the friendship between Sanmao and Xiao Laizi begins to emerge when Sanmao is in a coma, and suspicions arise.