Inspired by a true incident, Shen Yu's debut OLD TOWN GIRLS tells a tale about how an unsustained economic boom desolates working-class communities and familial relations. Tempted by living a new life as a professional dancer in big cities, Qu Ting bid farewell to her marriage in a decaying rust belt town, leaving behind her infant daughter Shui Qing, who’s been alienated by her dad’s new family since. Never felt equally loveable as her peers, Shui Qing instantly gets carried away by Qu Ting's worldly charisma and maternal attention when the two meet seventeen years later. But the high schooler is soon forced to face the reality behind her mom’s sudden reappearance and years of unglamorous survival. As dangers loom, she decides to sacrifice everything for the slim chance of reunification.

Eighteen-year-old girl Li Qi failed the college entrance examinations. She disobeyed her mother, refusing to return to school to be a returning student. The relationship between Li Qi and her mother worsened. At classmate Xiaowei’s birthday party, Li Qi and Xiaowei had a quarrel. Li Qi smashed Xiaowei’s newly-bought iPhone in a rage. Unexpectedly, her originally peaceful summer life was changed after the quarrel. Facing the crisis of claiming compensation by her classmate, Li Qi chose to hide it from her mother, determined to keep it as her secret and solve the problem alone. And this secret was like a fishbone stuck in her throat, gradually becoming an unspeakable discomfort for her. The bitterness and pains of growing-up come one after another. She began to rethink her relationship with her mother, and her relationship with the world.