A widow at the age of just 28, Zanta rebels against her tyrannical father-in-law and rather than marrying the last son in the family decides to escape to Beijing with her seven-year-old son. However, the two are immediately emarginated because they are Tibetan and Zanta is forced to earn a living as a street vendor. It is then that she meets an American journalist, who decides to help her, accompanying her to her village: it will be the beginning of a bond that will lead the two women to fight discrimination against women.