The movie Coming Home takes place in China during the Cultural Revolution, a time of great political upheaval and persecution. Lu Yanshi, a former professor and intellectual, is arrested by the authorities and sent to a labor camp, leaving behind his devoted wife, Feng Wanyu, and their teenage daughter, Dandan.
Years later, Lu manages to escape from the labor camp and make his way back home, hoping to reunite with his beloved wife. However, he finds that Feng has suffered a severe head injury and no longer remembers him or their life together. Despite this, Lu is determined to win back her heart and help her regain her memory.
Meanwhile, Dandan has become a member of the Red Guards, a group of young people who are fiercely loyal to Chairman Mao and the communist government. She despises her father for his intellectual background and sees him as a threat to the revolutionary ideals she has been taught to uphold. Dandan's loyalty is tested, however, when she begins to uncover the truth about the government's oppression and the toll it has taken on her family.
The movie explores themes of love, sacrifice, memory, and political oppression, and features powerful performances by Gong Li, who plays Feng, and Chen Daoming, who plays Lu. Directed by Zhang Yimou, Coming Home is a poignant and moving drama that offers a powerful indictment of the devastating effects of authoritarianism on families and individuals.