SPILLED WATER sheds light on how the economic transformation of China is changing the roles, rights, and social status of its women. Returning to the country she was born, filmmaker May May Tchao captures a rarely seen human side of China's staggering economic boom through an intimate look at the lives of four very different women: a young rural farmer who against all odds, becomes a teacher; a successful lawyer in a male-dominated profession juggling her work with single motherhood; a divorced factory worker struggling to brighten her daughter’s future; and a Dongzu ethnic minority singer torn between her dreams and her responsibilities as a peasant’s wife. From the urban hustle of Beijing to the desolate beauty of rural provinces, their stories unveil why gender equality in China is so hard-earned yet worth the struggle.