At the beginning of the twentieth century, yu-liang leaves a brothel in a small chinese town, to become the second wife of mr. pan. while pan is away at the revolution in yunnan, yu-liang learns to paint and takes art classes at the shanghai art institute, until it is closed for painting nudes. because she cannot bear him a son, yu-liang leaves pan to his first wife, and studies art in paris, where she wins an award for a nude self-portrait. she returns to join pan in nanking in the 1930's, and becomes a professor until it is discovered that she came from a brothel. she returns to paris to live the rest of her life there, and finally gains a major exhibition of her work.