Devout Buddhists, Norbu and Dolma live with their young son Tashi in a clan in Tibet. Norbu is a highwayman. After Norbu is charged with stealing from the temple, he and his family are banished. Impoverished and marginalized, they can do little when their beloved son becomes ill. Tashi dies of a fever. After a second son is born, Norbu focuses his every action on keeping this child alive, seeking re-admission to the clan for his wife and child, then risking all to save them from isolation and starvation in winter.

上世纪 60 年代末，知识青年胸怀人定胜天的理想来到云南。为了种植“有用”的橡胶树，他们开始大肆砍伐“没用的”原始森林。当山上的树已倒了大片，人们继而向村民们世代敬畏的“树王”举起了砍刀。当地农民“肖疙瘩”，一个懂山、懂森林的伙夫，以命相抵，双方展开了一场较量 … …

1993 film by Tian Zhuangzhuang

Set against the backdrop of the Boxer Rebellion and the takeover of the Forbidden City by foreign powers, the empress-dowager Cixi and her notorious chief eunuch fight a losing battle to preserve their corrupt and autocratic regime.