Set in the 1960s, the heyday for the people of the Inner Mongolian grasslands, Wolf Totem celebrates a time when an age-old balance based on culture and tradition was maintained between the nomads, their livestock and the wild wolves who roamed the plains.

Beijing intellectual Chen Zhen volunteers to live in a remote nomadic settlement on the border of Inner and Outer Mongolia. There, he discovers an apparently idyllic, simple life based on an eternal struggle between the wolves and the humans in their fight to survive. Chen learns about the rich spiritual relationship which exists between these adversaries, and what each might learn from each other.

But when members of the People's Republic swarm in from the cities to bring modernity and productivity to the grasslands, the peace of Chen's solitary existence is shattered and the delicate balance between humans and wolves is disrupted. Only time will tell whether the grasslands will ever recover.