Ye Zhetai is a physics professor at Beijing Tsinghua University in the '60s. A man who lives by his word, he would rather die as a scientist than live as a liar, denying the existence of scientific facts — like the origin of the universe. At a struggle session in 1966, a militant revolutionary youth group known as the Red Guards execute Ye Zhetai for his anti-Communist beliefs. Ye Zhetai's wife, Shao Lin, sides with the Red Guards, incriminating him for his beliefs.
