Widowed at 28, Tibetan farmer Zanta defies her tyrannical father-in-law and refuses to marry his other son. When Zanta’s in-laws won't let her seven-year-old go to school, she flees to Beijing to become a street vendor. Destitute, she inveigles an American customer into paying her boy’s school fees. On a holiday trip back to her village, Zanta’s in-laws take her son hostage, drawing the unwitting American into the violent family feud. The two women forge a partnership in a bid to out-maneuver the in-laws.