Yan'ni's prospects as a teenager in China look bleak. Even her peasant family believes she is not going to amount to much, but when she is accepted to a nearby university she believes she has found a way out of. She sets off for college full of hope for her future, and it quickly seems as if that future is materializing. On her first day at school she literally runs into the very attractive Muyu, who immediately begins to court her. Soon they are very much involved, and the world looks bright to Yan'ni. She is getting a good education, and is living with the man she loves, who wants to marry her. Little does she know that Muyu is staging an intricate and lengthy deception, one that he has pulled off before. Midway through the film, our tale becomes very dark, but director Li Shaohong deftly handles sentimentalizing Yan'ni's plight, giving her grit and determination. Struggling to survive after having left college because of her relationship, Yan'ni is forced into menial jobs to make a living. And she soon realizes that Muyu has engaged in a new deception with another woman, similar to the events that happened to her, and tries to help the new woman in Muyu's life. As Yan'ni plots revenge against her ex-lover, she must decide whether revenge really does taste sweet.