Following the fate of a family of migrant workers seeking a place to call home in modern China, this heartrending new film from writer-director Li Ruijun (River Road) incisively examines urgent social concerns through the lens of a handful of elegantly drawn characters.

It’s been over 20 years since the Yangs left their impoverished hometown of Gansu in search of employment in faraway Shenzhen. But opportunities there have evaporated and the Yangs return to Gansu—only to discover that the land they once owned no longer belongs to them. Their daughter Yaoting, meanwhile, stays in Shenzhen, where she assembles motherboards in a factory while finding consolation in social media. Both generations struggle to envision a brighter future—but they come to realize that, no matter what, they will always find strength in each other.