For twelve months, a television crew has followed a handful of ordinary Tibetan people living in and around Gyantse, Tibet's third largest town. The result is a unique and intimate portrait of life in one of the most mysterious and isolated societies on earth.

It is autumn in southern Tibet and everyone is pulling together to get in the harvest. Like all farmers, Dundan is worried most about hailstones flattening his crops. In the past his brother Tseden, the local shaman, protected the fields with his spells. Now the local government has installed guns to disperse the clouds and this has put Tseden out of a job.

In the nearby town of Gyantse, Rincheu, a local builder, struggles to find enough workers during the harvest to complete his all important first government commission.

In the monastery, the monks recover from a hectic visit by the highest ranking Buddhist Lama in Tibet. After a riotous time celebrating the success of the event, they go home to help with the harvest.

Tseden is also helping a local family to arrange their daughter's wedding. Despite months of preparation, nobody actually gets around to telling the bride she is going to be wed - nor does anybody mention that she is expected to marry her husband's brother as well. Show less