在这部牵牛花剧情片中,文革时期，九岁的小兔（金道鑫鑫 饰）因患梦游症，被妈妈送到乡下的舅爷（陈多 饰）家，托他帮忙用中医治疗。村口有个叫水船（常戎 饰）的恶人贪恋舅爷女儿莲子（张蒙晰 饰）的美色，却常常无端欺负小兔。一日，小兔发现好友水珠子的妈妈跟水船进了苇荡深处，他忍隐不语。后来水珠子被送到县城学戏，临走送一只黑龟给小兔，却被水船掳走。莲子在带水牛“顺顺”去兽医站看病回来的路上，被水船强奸并活埋，并放恶狗咬死了外出寻找女儿的舅爷，将尸体投入水中。水牛“顺顺”带小兔到埋莲子的地方，将已奄奄一息的莲子救出。次日，“顺顺”用他又尖又长的犄角结束了水船罪恶的生命......
China, early 1970's. The Cultural Revolution takes root. And on the banks of the Yangzi River, a nine-years-old boy, Little Rabbit, comes to live with his Granduncle, a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine, and his beautiful nineteen-years-old cousin, Lotus, in a small fishing village. Since Little Rabbit's father was sent to a labor camp for his anti-cultural revolution behavior, his mother has little time to care for Little Rabbit while performing in a theater group on tour for local factories and villages. Little Rabbit's mother hopes that the tranquil countryside village will provide a cure for her troubled son. He befriends a young boy and discovers the simple pleasures of village life, playing with Lotus' pet water buffalo, Shun Shun. But after overhearing that his father is seeking a divorce from his mother, Little Rabbit reverts to a dream world from which no one can extract him, living a life of solitude and introversion. He walks in his sleep. Little Rabbit is overcome by ...
