A drifting tour guide confronts buried memories and begins reconnecting with family and her former skating identity.
Story Structure — 5 Plot Phases
A Chance in Yanji
Nana guides a local tour while feeling dissatisfied with her work. Helping a visitor who loses his phone brings her into an unexpected social circle.
Key Events
Nana Guides the Tour — Nana leads a local tour group while feeling dissatisfied with her tour-guide job. Characters: NanaLocation: Yanji tour bus
A Lost Phone — After a young visitor loses his phone, Nana decides to help him. Characters: NanaLocation: Yanji
Dinner Invitation — Nana invites the young visitor to dinner with her local cook friend. Characters: NanaLocation: Yanji restaurant
Dancing After Drinks — After drinking, Nana is persuaded to dance with the two visitors. Characters: NanaLocation: Yanji restaurant
Intimacy and Distance
Drinking, dancing, and an intimate night create closeness while Nana's scar suggests unresolved discomfort. A bookstore and nightclub gradually expose the group's loneliness and attraction.
Key Events
An Intimate Night — After returning home drunk, Nana spends an intimate night with the young visitor. Characters: NanaLocation: Nana's home
The Ankle Scar — The young visitor notices a scar on Nana's ankle, making her uncomfortable. Characters: NanaLocation: Nana's home
A Second Outing — Nana joins another outing after the young visitor misses his flight home. Characters: NanaLocation: Yanji
Changbai Bookstore — Nana lingers over a book about figure skating while traveling companions browse nearby. Characters: NanaLocation: Bookstore
Lonely Nightclub — Nana remains involved in a nightclub evening that exposes loneliness and awkward attraction. Characters: NanaLocation: Nightclub
Heaven Lake Plan — While drunk, Nana joins a plan to travel to Heaven Lake. Characters: NanaLocation: Nightclub
The Buried Skater
An old friend reveals Nana's former figure-skating talent and confronts her broken connections. The planned trip to Heaven Lake becomes a journey toward her avoided past.
Key Events
Past Returns — An old friend reveals that Nana was once a talented figure skater. Characters: NanaLocation: Nana's home
Broken Connections — The old friend confronts Nana about losing contact with friends, a deceased coach, and her mother. Characters: NanaLocation: Nana's home
Mountain Journey Begins — Nana travels with the group toward the Changbai Mountains and Heaven Lake. Characters: NanaLocation: Road to Changbai Mountains
Fog Over Heaven Lake
Nana travels through snow toward the mountains as the group faces worsening weather and a dangerous cliffside moment. A bear encounter turns the journey into an unsettling symbolic passage.
Key Events
The Bear Legend — During the journey, the group discusses a local legend about a bear becoming human. Characters: NanaLocation: Mountain road
Snowy Hike — Nana undertakes a long, snowy hike toward Heaven Lake with the group. Characters: NanaLocation: Changbai Mountains
Fog Blocks Heaven Lake — A ranger warns that fog makes the mountain route unsafe and orders the group to return. Characters: NanaLocation: Changbai Mountains
The Cliff Edge — The young visitor approaches a cliff before a bear appears and interrupts the dangerous moment. Characters: NanaLocation: Mountain cliff
Bear Approaches Nana — A bear approaches Nana, sniffs her, and then leaves without attacking. Characters: NanaLocation: Mountain trail
Returning Drunkenly — After returning from the mountains, Nana becomes drunk again with the group. Characters: NanaLocation: Nana's home
Returning to Herself
Back home, Nana faces the emotional consequences of the trip and the departure of her companions. She calls her family and takes out her old skates, suggesting renewed connection with her past.
Key Events
Returning Drunkenly — After returning from the mountains, Nana becomes drunk again with the group. Characters: NanaLocation: Nana's home
Morning Discovery — Nana is found asleep beside the young visitor while another companion prepares to leave. Characters: NanaLocation: Nana's home
The Watch Remains — The young visitor leaves his watch behind before returning to Shanghai. Characters: NanaLocation: Nana's home
Nana Calls Home — Nana calls her family and says she will return home for Chinese New Year. Characters: NanaLocation: Nana's home
Skates Reappear — Nana takes out her old skates, reconnecting with a forgotten part of herself. Characters: NanaLocation: Nana's home
Story Breakdown
Yanji Arrival — Nana's routine work places her in contact with visitors and an unexpected temporary community.
Tour Guide Routine — Nana leads a local tour while feeling dissatisfied with her job.
Lost Phone Help — Nana helps a visitor after he loses his cell phone.
Unexpected Companions — Shared meals, drinks, and dancing create a fragile bond among three lonely people.
Dinner Invitation — Nana brings the visitor to dinner with her cook friend.
Drunken Dancing — The group drinks and persuades Nana to dance.
Unstable Intimacy — Nana's closeness with the visitor exposes both desire and emotional discomfort.
Intimate Night — Nana and the visitor spend the night together.
Scar Revealed — A scar on Nana's ankle makes her uncomfortable.
Forgotten Skating — Objects and confrontations bring Nana's former athletic identity back into view.
Skating Book — Nana lingers over a book about figure skating.
Old Friend Confronts — An old friend challenges Nana over her lost connections.
Mountain Passage — The trip to Heaven Lake becomes a physically dangerous passage through snow, fog, and isolation.
Snowy Hike — Nana joins the long hike toward Heaven Lake.
Fog Warning — A ranger orders the group to turn back because of dangerous fog.
Bear Encounter — A bear encounter interrupts a moment of danger and gives the mountain journey an uncanny quality.
Cliffside Pause — A visitor approaches a cliff before running back after a bear appears.
Bear Sniffs Nana — The bear approaches Nana, sniffs her, and leaves.
A New Return — After the companions separate, Nana makes a small but meaningful movement toward family and her past.
Chinese New Year Call — Nana tells her family that she will come home for Chinese New Year.
Skates Taken Out — Nana retrieves her old skates at the film's end.
In cold wintry Yanji, a city on China's northern border, young urbanite Haofeng, visiting from Shanghai, feels lost and adrift. By chance, he goes on a tour led by Nana, a charming tour guide who instantly fascinates him. She introduces him to Xiao, a personable but frustrated restaurant worker. The three bond quickly over a drunken weekend. Confronting their individual traumas, their frozen desires slowly thaw as they seek to liberate themselves from an icy world.
