China. Mid 90's. HONG Tao, thirty years old, moved from the countryside to Beijing where he works in a fancy restaurant. He lives with a strange secret since the cultural revolution. Back then, his father was a famous Mao's portrait painter and he was obsessed by the leader's representation. He started tattooing Mao's portraits on human skins. HONG Tao, oppressed by this heavy inheritance, wants to hide it from the world. But a new wave of unscrupulous antique collectors will do anything to get their hands on them...