This story focuses on the experience of a man, Chen Xin (pronounced "Chen Zin") who is returning to the city of Shanghai after an absence of ten years. He has spent that time in a rural area and has looked forward to being reunited with his family, which consists of his mother, his elder brother and the brother's wife and child, and his younger brother. The family lives together in cramped quarters and the introduction …showed first 75 words of 647 total…

…showed last 75 words of 647 total…was reading the few last pages describing Chen Xin's walk on the streets of Shanghai, and depression that came over him, I started fearing that this story might end with the accident. However, it didn't. It ends with the hope. The hope that though Shanghai wasn't his true destination, not everything was lost yet. And "he believed that once he arrived at his true destination, he would have no doubts, troubles, or sense of rootlessness." (140)