Cao Maishun

Living in a traditional “four-sided courtyard” house, where historically multiple generations would live together in one complex, Wei Daxue slowly finds her few friends in the world slipping away — an artist living in the guesthouse leaves, a neighbor dies, and her dog runs away. Her daughter is physically distant, and a cross-generational tension between tradition and the expediencies of modern life keep their conversations short.

City boy Fang Fang is sent to his rural grandfather’s home during his mother’s business trip. Initially resistant to his mute grandfather and local girl Xiao Duo, he gradually warms to simple countryside life: working, playing, and forging meaningful bonds as his emotional walls thaw.