Nineteen-year-old student Songlian (the extraordinary Gong Li) is forced to abandon her studies and marry into wealth, becoming the newest concubine of the aging, unseen Master Chen. Inside his walled estate, Songlian discovers a household ruled by a merciless ritual: each night, red lanterns are lit outside the chambers of whichever wife the master chooses to visit, granting her privilege and status while the others are cast into cold irrelevance.
