For centuries, the West Street of the World Cultural Heritage Site of Dujiangyan (southwest China) has housed generations that have lived an authentic Chinese way of life. However, their traditions and values are threatened by the modernization now sweeping China. On this street set to vanish with redevelopment, Grandma Jiang suffers a stroke and loses what little freedom she had. Conflict between her children deepens at her bedside, prompting reflection on her past in a startling portrait of honesty in the face of death.

The first of a four-part series documenting the "ancient urban community" of West Street, The Vanishing Spring Light is a film about a family's love and loss, obligation and attachment, guilt, transformation and destiny.