The performance opened with a flowing melody as the male protagonist, played by the troupe's principal dancer Ma Xiaodong, stood tall on stage. Behind him was a vast reed marsh, surrounded by cranes in graceful motion. Their dance carried him and the audience back to his college days, as memories gradually unfurled onstage.

The female lead, named Meng Juan, played by young artist Yan Mengxuan, soon made her entrance, amid reeds swaying in the wetlands beneath a red sun, mirroring the hopes and dreams of youth. Meng Juan, through her dance with the cranes and her letters exchanged with her distant lover, conveyed both youthful longing and unwavering commitment to the birds' survival. In the end, she sacrificed her life to save a crane caught in a storm.