The story begins in a kampong in the 1960s. Yueman is ostracised by her father in-law, Weng Tianshi, for giving birth to a mute daughter while her husband Jiaqing is a good-for-nothing bum. The only son in the Wang family, Wang Lihai, has contracted a venereal disease and his mother hurriedly finds a match-maker to get him a wife. Shuixian is thus arranged to marry him. On the day of the wedding, their marriage ceremony is interrupted by news of Yueman and her daughter being poisoned.