Based on a true story. In 1991 a brilliant young Chinese physics student (Liu Ye) comes to America to study the theories of Dark Matter with a legendary astrophysicist (Aidan Quinn). At first, he enjoys the loose, carefree American style of living, the girls, friends, pizza. He also becomes very good friends with a school benefactor (Meryl Streep), a woman who appreciates Chinese culture and supports the exchange students in their transition to life in America. But things take a dark turn when the student expresses a difference of opinion from his professor, and he is shut out politically for his betrayal. Unable to graduate, shunned by his peers and shamed by his family, the story takes a dark turn as the young man responds to his emotional pain with tragic results.