The Yuanhai Migrants Children’s School, which serves children of migrant laborers in Beijing, is shut down by city officials for reasons never made clear. The students and teachers manage to continue class, first by sneaking into the shuttered campus, then moving inside a ruined factory, and even setting up class on the street. Following the personal journeys of students as they battle bureaucratic corruption for their right to learn, Cui exposes a crisis of social values in the wake of China’s economic reforms.

从夏天到冬天，从720人减少到16个人，源海实验学校的打工子弟经历了一系列残酷的事件：被赶出校园，被赶出作为临时教室的厂房，露天上课，甚至连露天上课所赖以坐席的水泥电线杆也要被抽走。原本济济一堂的孩子们，流离失所。有人失学在家，有人转到路远收费高的学校，有人与父母分离回了原籍老家。直到寒冬来临，三年级以下的学生只好挤进一辆小型公共汽车里上课，4～6年级的学生来到一位老师家里坚持全日制上课。在寒风中，孩子们依然要跑回学校大门外来做操和嬉戏，他们始终没有泯灭把学校当乐土的赤子之心。