Shifting its focus to the vast shantytowns that emerged in the shadow of the factories, the second part of Wang’s trilogy offers a multi-generational portrait of a community faced with the sudden terrible certainty of its own demise. As the factories close, the always unseen and off-camera forces of the state abruptly begin to tear down the homes, giving only perfunctory notice to their inhabitants. As a barometer of the unsettling changes, Wang chooses a group of restlessly drifting adolescents whose band is gradually diminished, one-by-one, often times without saying goodbye to their friends. As winter sets in and the dust of the demolished houses mixes with snow a small group of townsfolk bands together to try and resist the cold and the destruction of their homes.