Looking to take a vacation before settling in for to his PHD studies and hoping to swindle a little traveling money from his father, Chen Munian made up a story about killing someone and needing to flee. But now that lie has taken on a life of its own and everyone?the university, the police, the sprawling campus community?is convinced he's murderer.

Munian is barely holding on: his wages are meager, he lives with a group of chaotic roommates, he drinks too much with his crazy artist neighbor who is obsessed with Van Gogh, and his bumbling attempts to woo the beautiful Qin Ke always end in heartache. His life keeps spiraling out of his control, and he can't help but wonder if he was destined to be a murderer all along.

Xu Zechen's Night Train, in Jeremy Tiang's brash translation, follows characters who live on the precipice, where the foolish mistakes of young men can have devastating consequences.