The film explores the huge transformation taking place in China today, from the perspectives of four of the country's most powerful businesswomen. Women who experienced the austerity of China's Cultural Revolution, followed by the subsequent economic boom. Though growing up in a patriarchal society, they have risen from nothing and have become symbols of change, representing a forceful break with the past. How they created their empires, what is the social and economic context in which they operate and what is the price they had to pay in terms of their private and family lives: these questions are unfolded by a series of first-hand accounts given by the protagonists.