The theme of the film is based on a true story, and its blueprint is the case that Lu Gang, a student studying in the United States, shot and killed his tutor at 199 1. Liu Ye plays Lu Gang, a student studying in the United States, and Meryl Streep plays Professor Ann Claire, vice president of the University of Iowa, who was shot dead by Lu Gang.

Ann Claire is one of the most authoritative women in the University of Iowa. Her father went to China to preach, and she was born in Shanghai. She has great affection for China, and she loves China students very much. On Halloween (199 1 10), Lu Gang, an international student from China, shot and killed three professors and vice president Ann Claire, and Shan Linhua, an international student from China who also received a doctorate from Lu Gang. After shooting five people, Lu Gang immediately shot himself on the spot.

Lu Gang, who shot and killed people, was born in an ordinary worker's family. /kloc-was admitted to the physics department of Peking University at the age of 0/8, and 1984 was selected into the Sino-US physics exchange program hosted by Li Zhengdao. Immediately after graduation, he went to the United States as an exchange student to study for a doctorate. At the age of 22, he studied in the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Iowa. Lu Gang, who is clever but conceited, has always had a dream, that is, to win a Nobel scholarship. However, he was dissatisfied with his tutor because of interpersonal disputes in the school, which eventually led to a tragic bloody case.