In 1920s China, women had few options. So following the death of her father, Songlian (Gong Li, Memoirs Of A Geisha), a beautiful nineteen-year old college student agrees to marry a wealthy nobleman. She is to be wife number four at his estate, where daily life revolves around an ancient family custom: the master raises a red lantern outside the house of the wide with whom he desires to spend the night. On the surface, there is harmony between the wives, but trapped inside their gilded cages, with nothing to do but compete for their husband's favor, the four "sisters" are drawn into a web of petty rivalries that soon escalate into treachery... and tragedy.