Plot: Tuya is the persevering wife of Bater, a herdsman who lost his legs exploring water in the Neimenggu (Inner Mongolia) grassland that is fast vanishing as a result of desertification. She takes up the sole responsibility to make a living for the family, but develops a dislocated lumbar from her hard labor and risks paralysis herself. Faced with harsh reality, the couple decide to divorce so that Tuya can seek a better life. Imposing her own conditions of a remarriage - her new husband must take care of Bater, their children and their poor herding land, the strong-minded, stubborn, but also gentle, susceptible Tuya embarks on an arduous search for a new husband, and meets suiters who are rich but disingenuous, likable but shy, and saves a suicidal Bater who still longs for Tuya and their children along the way.
Alternative Plot: Married to and in love with disabled peasant Ba'toer, Tuya (Yu Nan) is forced to divorce him and find a new husband to support both them and their two children when an injury leaves her unable to work. After a series of men refuse to look after Ba'toer, Tuya finds herself torn between wealthy, recently divorced oilman and schoolmate Bao'lier, who promises to provide for her husband's medical care, and her neighbor, Sen'ge, whose wife has recently left him.
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