A Year in Tibet

The monks at the local monastery are thrown into turmoil when their superior, The Panchen Lama, the highest ranking Buddhist living in Tibet today, drops in for an unexpected visit. Elsewhere, a local hotel owner is worried about this dwindling visitor numbers while in the nearby village a young farmer’s wife faces complications with her pregnancy. Can they get her to the hospital in time?

Who’d be a shaman? Once Tseden was expected to cast a spell to protect the local crops. But now the government has installed cloud dispersing equipment and suddenly he’s out of a job. Will this new technology prove to be as effective as the traditional methods? Tseden is also required to arrange a marriage, but the bride hasn’t been told about the nuptials. Can he convince her to get hitched?

The monks prepare for New Year, including the construction yak butter figurines, as one of Tibet's biggest festivals kicks off. However for some of the residents of the town, the same old problems emerge. The local rickshaw driver usually spends the winter painting houses, but he branches out into a bold new venture. Will his guard dog business turn around and bite him?

There’s dishonesty at the monastery as valuable statues go missing during a town-wide crime wave. Communist party officials are parachuted in to weed out the miscreant monks and try to solve the mystery. Security measures are introduced and certain monks are given a dressing down, but will the criminal mastermind be discovered? Or does the crime give party officials the excuse to meddle further?

You might think the life of a monk is quite straightforward and mainly focused on the spiritual. But in Tibet, government rules and restrictions complicate matters, especially for the deputy head of the monastery, Tsultrim, who tries to keep both his monks and the local Communist party as happy as possible. Will the antics of one unconventional monk derail the smooth running of the monastery?