高田(高倉健飾)接到兒子健一患病的訊息， 從所居住的漁村趕往東京探望。但多年來的父子隔閡使兒子拒絕見他。但高田仍然決定幫助兒子去完成他的心愿。 高田獨自來到中國雲南， 在幫助兒子完成心愿的過程中， 他遇到了很多意想不到的困難， 也結識了很多純樸善良的中國人。短暫的中國之行充滿了意外的經歷和從未有過的生活體驗， 這一切都使高田對兒子健一的內心世界有了很深的理解， 產生了強烈的父子共鳴。他完成了與兒子在精神世界上的彼此溝通， 也同時獲得了對親情與人生更多新的感悟。
健一和自己的父親高田長期關係緊張，甚至在自己病危、年邁的父親破例來探望自己時還無法釋懷，拒絕了父子溝通的最後機會。健一的妻子將一盤錄像帶送給公公，其中記錄了健一這些年在中國拍攝儺戲的經歷，希望高田能藉此多了解一下兒子的生活。錄像中健一和一位中國雲南鄉村的儺戲表演者李加民相約去麗江拍他唱的《千里走單騎》，父親不理解兒子為何那么迷戀儺戲，幾乎把它當成工作和生活的全部，可當得知兒子長期抑鬱已患上絕症後，六七十歲的老人決定隻身去中國尋找到那個李加民，拍下《千里走單騎》這齣戲帶回給兒子，因為這也是作為父親的他唯一能猜到的兒子的未了心愿……父親節電影推薦：千里走單騎
takata (ken takakura ornaments) received the news of his son kenichi sick, went live from fishing village to visit tokyo. but over the years the gap between father and son make his son refused to see him. but takada still decided to help his son to fulfill his wishes. takada alone came from yunnan, china, with the help of his son's desire to complete the process, he encountered many unexpected difficulties, but also to get to know a lot of simple goodness of chinese people. a short trip to china is full of surprises and never had the experience of life experience, all this makes kenichi takada's son had a deep understanding of the inner world, the father and son had a strong resonance. he finished with his son in the spirit world to communicate with each other, and also won the affection and life for more new insights.
kenichi takada and his father a long-term tension, even in his dying, elderly father to visit his shihai exception can not be relieved, rejected the last chance for father and son to communicate. kenichi's wife gave the father a videotape, which records kenichi these years in china nuo opera shooting experience, i hope to know more about takada able to take his son's life. the video kenichi and a chinese yunnan village nuo opera performer li plus people similar to lijiang shoot him sing "trinidad riding alone", the father does not understand why his son so obsessed nuo opera, almost regard it as all the work and life, can be when he learned that his son was suffering from an incurable disease of long-term depression, six or seven-year-old man decided to go to china alone to find lee added that the people photographed, "riding alone for thousands of miles" play back to his son, because this is as a father, he the only son can guess unfulfilled wish ......