Zhang Yimou (JU DOU, RAISE THE RED LANTERN) directs HAPPY TIMES, a tragicomedy about one man's humorous, ridiculous, yet truly endearing attempt to love and be loved. Zhao (Zhao Benshan), a retired man of humble means who doesn't want to be lonely anymore, proposes marriage to a fat lady (Dong Lihua) who he believes will be easily coaxed into loving him. However, he quickly learns that this assumption is wrong when she demands a lavish wedding that will cost him 50,000 yuan. Scheming for a way to get the money, Zhao enlists his friend Li (Li Xuejian) to help him, and together they refurbish an old bus, calling it Happy Times Hotel, and charging admission for teenage lovers. Meanwhile, Zhao's fiancee reveals her strange family to him--a spoiled, mean-spirited son (Leng Qibin), and a helpless, blind stepdaughter, Wu (Dong Jie). When Zhao is asked to find Wu a job at his hotel, he becomes a surrogate father to her and their relationship takes over the second half of the movie. As they learn to trust each other and understand each other, they develop a sweet relationship that overrides Zhao's previously shady intentions. A sad film with a touching message looped within quietly comic situations, HAPPY TIMES reveals the vulnerability of the human spirit, while telling its solemn searching tale.