A man is found naked by the side of a river in Wuhan in mainland China. His name is Luke, but he appears to be unable to speak, and is sent to a local hospital for diagnosis. Unable to determine the cause of Luke's condition, the hospital decides that he must be sent elsewhere. Soon, Luke's nurse, Xiao Jiang, discovers that his superiors have decided to transfer Luke to a mental asylum. He then decides that he must rescue him and smuggle him out to his uncle's village, where they will have to evade capture from the local police.
Slowly, the reason for Luke's speechlessness becomes clear. Xiao Jiang discovers that Luke had previously had a romantic affair with a young male university student, called Han Dong, whom he had met at the university campus, together with Han Dong's girlfriend, Xiao Ning. Xiao Jiang accidentally discovers a secret that provides a key to Luke's past, enabling him to subsequently track down Xiao Ning to find out more. Although she proves to be unhelpful and deceitful, he begins to be able to piece together the mystery of Luke's inability to speak. He learns that Luke's romantic relationship with Han Dong had been discovered by Xiao Ning, who is a devout Christian, and had decided to punish her boyfriend by 'outing' him and publicly humiliating him at church. During Xiao Jiang's unravelling of this mystery, Luke suddenly disappears from the accommodation he had secretly shared with Xiao Jiang. As a result, Xiao Jiang asks for the help of a female friend, Lan, to try to locate Luke, and help resolve once and for all the central mystery of Luke's inability to speak.
