"Thousand Pieces of Gold" opens with Lalu (Rosalind Chao) and her sheepherder family barely surviving in 1880 China during a devastating drought. Things are so bad that one night her father awakens her, drags her down the road and without a word sells her to a marriage broker.

The next thing she knows, Lalu is in chains on a ship bound for San Francisco's Barbary Coast. There, she is purchased by a Chinese cowboy named Jim (Dennis Dun) and taken to a small, lawless Idaho mining town.

During their journey, Jim reveals that his real name is Li Po, and all he wants to do is save enough money to get back to China. It also becomes apparent that he is developing some affection for Lalu.

Lalu identifies with Jim, since returning to China is all she can think of.

But when they arrive in the settlement she learns that Jim has actually purchased her for an older saloonkeeper named Hong King (Michael Paul Chan). Worse, Hong King plans to make a bundle of money by forcing her into prostitution. Standing up for herself for the first time, Lalu violently refuses, though she agrees to remain his personal slave.

Soon Lalu makes a friend in Hong King's saloon partner Charlie (Chris Cooper) but ultimately realizes she's really on her own. And if she ever wants to get back to China she'll have to become aggressively independent and earn her own way.

As the ads say, this low-key, old-fashioned film is "a testament to the strength of the human spirit," and is based on a true story. But that might also make you think "Thousand Pieces of Gold" is merely a posturing, noble-woman-tames-the-Old-West picture. And it's much better than that.

First-time feature director Nancy Kelly's approach is occasionally a bit too subtle, as the film's narrative drive sags in places. But Kelly, a former documentary filmmaker, does understand that a Western - even a small, character-driven Western - needs a sense of the land, and there is an admirable element of scope in this low-budget production. Kelly also knows how to use dramatic pause and isn't afraid to let long scenes play with no music in the background, relying on her performers' ability to sell the emotion. And the performances are uniformly excellent.

Chao (best-known for her continuing role on "Star Trek: The Next Generation") is a remarkable actress, especially in scenes without a lot of dialogue. When Lalu wanders from the saloon and finds herself in a mini-"Chinatown," she begins to let down her guard as the faces and language remind her of home. And when she learns from the local blacksmith (who happens to be black) that slavery is illegal in America, the righteous indignation she registers is deeply felt.

Also quite good are Cooper ("Matewan") as the soft-spoken, defeatist Charlie; Dun ("Big Trouble in Little China") as the weak, ultimately heartbroken Jim; and Chan ("Goonies") as a sleazy villain with more dimension than most bad guys we see in movies these days.

"Thousand Pieces of Gold," an American Playhouse production (which means it will doubtless show up on PBS next year), is not rated but would probably get a PG for Kelly's soft approach to the violence, sex and profanity.