The title character, Qui Ju (played by Gong Li), is a peasant who lives in a small farming enclave with her husband Qinglai, his sister and their father. She is in the final trimester of her first pregnancy. One day while her husband is conversing to Wang Shantang, the head of the community, a miscommunication ensues. Qinglai's comment that Shantang "only breeds hens", was misconstrued to reflect on a perceived inability of the chieftain to produce a son (he has two or three daughters). The minor municipality leader is insulted by this inference and beats Qinglai, kicking him so severely in the groin that he must see a doctor and remain absent from his work.

Because of this injustice, Qui Ju sets forth to extract an explanation from Wang Shatang, one in which the village head is unwilling to supply. Qui Ju becomes determined to 'right' the 'wrong' and establishes contact with officials from the nearest small town. As the case is mediated and re-mediated (at her insistence) by the government bureaucracy, it is never resolved to Qui Ju's satisfaction. She is essentially seeking a simple apology and the dispute continues to a potentially devastating climax.

The film includes numerous comical moments. Humorous vignettes involving peasant naiveté when Qui Ju and Miezi travel to Beijing abound throughout the film. Qui Ju wonders aloud if the supposed Doctor examining her husband is not really just a veterinarian. Their choice of more modern clothes to disguise their bumpkin roots will also bring a chuckle. Social commentary on Chinese populace ordinances is constantly expressed, "If we can't fix your plumbing," the pregnant Qui Ju tells Qinglai (played by Liu Pei Qi), "we're stuck with a single-child policy for good!"

Continuing with his sub-themes of female perseverance, diligence and irrepressible patience (as seen in his other films, "The Road Home" and "Not One Less"), Zhang again uses long distance pedestrian travel as the vehicle of expression. In their efforts to seek justice, Qui Ju, with her blotted belly, and dutiful sister-in-law Meizi make their way to the larger town numerous times as well as the province's bustling capital city. Here Zhang makes wonderful use of the crowds of people scurrying to their daily activities. This helps add to the realistic nature of the film.

As bold and determined as the embodiment of Mother Earth that she obviously represents, Qui Ju remains unforgiving, until Wang Shantang is reprieved in her eyes for his part in the eventual birth of their son. Qui Ju was hemorrhaging badly and required assistance into town that Shantang organized. The vendetta appeared to have subsided as she personally invites him to the child's "moon yeut" ceremony, one month after birth.

Roger Ebert notes in his review, "...we absorb more information about the lives of ordinary people in everyday China than in any other film I've seen...". I certainly agree with this sentiment as I also found that this expose of the lives of common people of rural China quite illuminating. This film seems to have been ambitiously striving for quite a handful... and achieves all its goals with proud, unpretentious glory. I LOVED it and could compare it in certain respects to Kiarsostami's Close-Up. Both having a neo-realism feel, both showing the more detailed levels of the cultural justice system at the grass-roots level and both are expressive in both subtle complexity and simplistic mannerisms. Having seen almost all the Zhang Yimou's films, I think this may prove to be his best effort to date.