In the heart of China's tumultuous 20th-century history, a boy finds himself caught between the imperial past and the chaos of the present. Born in the Forbidden City, young Pu Yi becomes the last emperor of China at the tender age of three. As his true home, the empire, crumbles around him, Pu Yi lives a life of luxury and privilege, surrounded by palaces and servants, but also by palace intrigues and civil war.
A few years later, when the revolution topples the Qing dynasty, the young emperor is forced to abandon his throne and faces a new and challenging world. In his quest for identity, Pu Yi becomes a hostage in various contexts, from imperial Japan to his own transformation into an ordinary man under Mao's communist regime. Throughout his experiences, from the opulence of his childhood to humiliation and re-education, his essence wavers between nostalgia for his past and the struggle for his place in a modern world.
With stunning landscapes and a rich narrative, this epic and moving story reveals the dilemmas of a man caught between tradition and change, exploring themes of power, identity, and redemption in a desolate context. Pu Yi's transformation is a journey through history, filled with lessons about what it means to be human.