Beijing intellectual Chen Zhen volunteers to live in a remote settlement on the border of Inner and Outer Mongolia, where he discovers life of apparent idyllic simplicity amongst the nomads and the wild wolves who roam the plains. But when members of the People?s Republic swarm in from the cities to bring modernity and productivity to the grasslands, the peace of Chen?s solitary existence is shattered, and the delicate balance between humans and wolves is disrupted.