Father documents the tumultuous relationship between a widowed father Ma Lisheng and his school-age son Ma Che. Though he works as a low-level party functionary during the day he finds his greatest challenges in the raising of a son on his own. Alternating between trying to bond with his son (even getting drunk with him) and verbally accosting him Ma is at a loss. One day the son decides that the best way for his father to stop harassing him will be to find him a new wife which he finds in the form of the mother of a school friend Qing Huaiyuan.