铁蛋的爱情开始得早，八岁就恋上了邻家巧妇美姐。文革禁唱地方戏曲二人台，也驱离了美姐一家人。辗转十多年，铁蛋俨然已是条汉子。随着美姐与三个女儿返乡，看似忘不掉美姐，铁蛋先与其大女儿私恋未果，却被迫娶了二女儿作为「补偿」。最后决定跟着戏班子流浪，随他出门的却是美姐家的老三。有道是二人台不是天天有，情歌永远唱不完。

 

Sister May is beautiful young woman who returns to her home village in Shanxi after spending time at West Side, Inner Mongolia. She has a nice singing voice, and is adored by Tie dan'er, a six-year-old boy from an impoverished family. But when the Cultural Revolution starts, Sister May and her family once again leave for West Side. Twelve years later, Sister May comes back to the village, no longer looking like the woman that Tie dan'er was once so in love with. However, her first daughter is an 18-year-old beauty, who very much resembles the Sister May of Tie dan'er's memory. Tie dan'er and the first daughter begin dating, but their relationship is cut short when Sister May arranges her eldest child to be married to a young man from West Side. Afraid of the emotional outbursts of Tie dan'er, Sister May allows him to marry her second daughter, although the arranged bride is mute and looks nothing like her mother. Unhappy with married life, Tie dan'er joins a show group as a singer, taking pleasure in entertaining village audiences and living life on the road. He becomes the Deputy Leader of the show group, but complicatio

ns ensue when Sister May's third daughter wants to join the company. She also looks like Sister May, and the moment that Tie dan'er sets eyes on her, buried passion is reignited.