Convinced that he should not die single, lonely cremator Cao resorts to marrying a dead woman when he is diagnosed with lung cancer. The plan is complicated by the arrival of a young girl at the crematorium looking for her missing sister.

Loosely based on a true story set in contemporary China, Cremator is a daring and compelling drama about Cao, who is a crematorium worker of a remote town. While living the life of an ordinary cremation worker, Cao makes money on the side as a “ghost matchmaker” by selling unclaimed female dead bodies to anyone who is looking for a ghost wife to be buried with their male dead family member. Ironically Cao is a bachelor himself in his fifties who strongly believes in afterlife marriage. When he knows that he is terminally ill, Cao sets his eyes on an unclaimed dead female body brought to the crematorium by the local police. Determines not to leave the living world without being married – Cao makes the dead woman his “ghost wife” in a ritual and make plan to take “her” back to his hometown. The story takes a turn when the dead woman’s young sister arrives at the crematorium.