In a mountain hamlet of an Eastern Chinese province, a young widow faces trial after trial. Forced to work as a servant to escape being sold into marriage, kidnapped by her mother-in-law and married off to a poor peasant, nothing ever seems to go right for her. Falling in love and becoming a mother boost her self-esteem, but that too is suddenly smashed by the illness of her husband and the death of her son. Society begins to regard the widow as cursed, a bearer of bad luck. When one-year ends, she struggles to find optimism for the next. Will the New Year bring hope?

Winner of Special Prize, the 10th Karvlovy Vary International Film Festival, Czechoslovakia, 1957
Silver Hat Prize the Mexican International Film Week, Mexico, 1958