The drama, written and directed by Meng, tells the strange story of a man who, after being disfigured in a traffic accident, becomes a totally different person after undergoing successful cosmetic surgery. This total change in his appearance also leads to dramatic changes in four people around him.

Head Without Tail is filled with fantastic characters all in pursuit of love: a worker in a toilet factory who elopes with an amateur gymnast; a wife driven crazy by jealousy; a man pushed to the brink of suicide by disappointment and the girl who saves him; a burns victim whose plastic surgery transforms him into another person.

The tone of Head Without Tail is significantly heavier than many of his previous works, and while elements of black humor are getting bleaker, it is still non-the-less there.

It is not only his drama that has changed however: his audience too, appears to be becoming richer, with increasing numbers of foreigners. Surprisingly, his drama caused sufficient debate for arguments to break out in the theater, complaining his style had departed too far from his previous artistry. Local newspapers joined in the debate.

Meng himself maintains that it is inevitable that his work will change over time. This time, he says, he deliberately hid the hope and passion of his story, and says he doesn't mind the negative reactions of many in the audience.