The nanny Yu Ling works for a wealthy couple of the Chinese elite and devotedly takes care of their seven-year-old son. Yu Ling knows the secrets of the family in detail, but her employers have no idea that she is also hiding something. One day, Yu Ling plans to kidnap the boy in the hope of ransom money and a better life. But things turn out quite differently: the boy's grandfather and father are arrested on suspicion of corruption, the mother disappears without a trace - and Yu Ling is suddenly forced to make decisions that reach far into the future, for herself as well as for the boy ...