Cherry Town is a remote community located deep in the Qinling Mountains in the southern Shanxi province. There, a beautiful, college-educated woman is appointed to serve as director of the new office of social management. Daideng, whose adopted name literally means"the lantern bearer" as a poetic reference to the firefly, works closely with one of her young officers, an unmarried woman named Zhuzi. Together, they must address a myriad of grievances brought by the townspeople-ranging from the pervasive lice infestation to the building of a new factory, which will provide the impoverished town with a significant economic stimulus at the risk of polluting the region's delicate ecosystem and damaging the town's scenery. Often distracted by her empathy for the villagers, Daideng's soft heart often proves to be her downfall.