Old Wu, now 76, has been living in America since he was 10 years old, sent off by his parents from China in hopes of a better life. When he returns to China, he finds his hometown brimming with delusions about his success. In fact, he has not been financially successful-- is in fact "poor, by American standards," and has been a bachelor his entire life.
His cousin's daughter, named Little Treasure, attempts to seduce Old Wu, but he refuses, and asks to see his mother instead. When they reach his mother's house, he finds out that his mother died a week before his arrival. Despite his anger at the obvious scheme to bring him back from America along with his guilt at having been a less than faithful son, Old Wu surrenders to the village's requests to provide him a dinner, a feast.
At the dinner, he is treated like royalty, and each girl tries her best to catch his attention. He drinks and eats too much and stumbles off to bed, where he succumbs to Little Treasure's pressures.