Rubel wants to join school but reality forces him to smuggle across the River Ganges between India and Bangladesh. The same river eroded his home. Now he lives on Char, an island within this river which starts eroding now.
Hundred-year-old veteran Peng Guochen relies on the care of his grandnephew Peng Songbai. Under the enormous economic pressure, the local government has not been able to implement his old-age pensions.
In southwestern Hunan, many people mine illegally for a living, and many miners develop pneumoconiosis. After the illegal mines are shut down by the government, their road to misery begins.