Xiaodie, a novelist, gets a call from her sister, Yu, who is terminally ill. She asks Xiaodie to come home and take care of her daughter, Lei. Xiaodie arrives at the household where she lost her mother eight years prior. Xiaodie comforts Lei with stories of the Hmong Deity, 'Mother Butterfly.' Xiaodie's father (Yang) tells Lei that Yu will die. Upset, Lei calls Xiaodie a liar, and Xiaodie finally admits she couldn't cope with her own mother's death. But now she is here to help Lei face death together. Sometime after Yu dies, Xiaodie, Lei, and Yang are a happy family.