At the heart of the film is the relationship between Huanyu, thirty two years spent in the wrong body, and her father Jianguo, a widower, a devout member of a Christian community.

Jianguo is not mentally equipped to handle the situation when the hospital assigned to do Huanyu’s sex change operation – permitted by law – requires the permission of family members, despite the patient being an adult. Faced with Huanyu’s unexpected revelation, Jianguo is completely lost, he lacks the ability to even differentiate between transgender, homosexual, sick or sinful.
The church to which they both belong is just as incapable of accepting diversity – the pastor of the community sees no contradiction in preaching respect between individuals during religious service and at the same time physically chasing Huanyu out of the chapel.
The only people who accept and see Huanyu for the woman she is are other transsexuals – not even the old schoolmate she shares an apartment with, while wanting to defend Huanyu from prejudice and gossip, can treat her like a woman.

The small community of transsexuals which Huanyu now sees as family has to face constant hostility and humiliation, even in professional environments.
The religious community’s inflexibility – as well as society’s – and cultural prejudices lead to tragedy, which, from a narrative perspective works as a Deus ex-machina to the plot, because it forces Jianguo look within his soul to find the strength to accept his child. If on the one hand, the physical change that Huanyu craves for her body is enormous, perhaps even greater is the mental change her father undergoes.