Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles

Aging Takata (Ken Takakura) travels from his quiet Japanese village to Tokyo, where is estranged son lies seriously ill in a hospital. But his son refuses to see him. Takata finds out his son, who is an expert in Chinese folk art, had traveled the year before to Yunnan Province in China, where he had hoped to film the great opera star Li Jiamin singing the song "Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles" from the classic opera Romance of the Three Kingdoms. But Li had been ill, unable to perform.

Even although he doesn’t speak Mandarin, Takata sets out for Yunnan to fulfill his son’s dream. But things are complicated. Takata discovers that Li not only is now in prison, but also has father-son issues of his own.