Plot
As Emperor Hirohito announces Japan's unconditional surrender in World War II, the Lin family headed by Lin Ah-lu (Li Tian-lu) is in Keelung, a coastal town near Taipei, to celebrate the opening of their nightclub and gambling house called ‘Little Shanghai’, operated by the first son, Wen-hsiung (Chen Sung-young). The same day, the young nurse Hinomi (Hsin Shu-fen) arrives to take her new position at Kinguichu Miners’ Hospital, where her brother Hinoe has asked his friend, Wen-ching (Tony Leung), the deaf fourth son of the Lin family, to meet her.
As the Japanese are leaving the island, Hinomi parts with her friend, Shizuko (Nakamura Ikuyo), and spends time with Hinoe (Wu Yi-fang) and his socialist friends. Wen-liang, the Lin family’s third son (Jack Kao) returns to Taiwan, shellshocked from his experience serving in the Japanese army. Once he recovers, he links up with Taiwanese gangster ‘Red Monkey’ (Ai Tsu-tu) and a Shanghainese mob, who convince him to take part in a smuggling operation which involves Wen-hsiung’s shipping business. Red Monkey introduces Ah-ga (Kenny Cheung), the brother of Wen-hsiung’s concubine to the bar hostess Ah-tsun, and attempts to involve him in the distribution of counterfeit Japanese money. Shortly thereafter, Red Monkey is killed and the money disappears. Wen-hsiung inadvertently discovers Ah-ga, Wen-liang, and their gangster friends from Shanghai have used his ships and storehouse to smuggle illegal goods, and demands they halt their criminal activities.
Later in a gambling house, Wen-liang recognises Ah-tsun, now under the ‘protection’ of one of the mainland gangsters, Kim-tsua, and unsuccessfully demands she provide his share of Red Monkey's money, leading to the gangsters to beat Wen-liang up. Despite an attempt at mediation, the Shanghai gang use their mainland connections to denounce the Lin brothers as Japanese collaborators. While Wen-hsiung escapes, Wen-liang is arrested by Nationalist soldiers. Wen-hsiung and Ah-ga organise a meeting with the Shanghai gangsters to obtain his release. However, Wen-liang has been tortured in jail, and suffers brain damage as a result.
Hinomi and Wen-ching develop a special friendship as she spends more time with the Lin household. She also befriends Ah-shue (Huang Tsien-ru), one of Wen-hsiung’s daughters.
The February 28 Incident of 1947 occurs, in which thousands of Taiwanese protesting against Kuomintang rule, are massacred. As Chen Yi, the chief executive of Taiwan, declares martial law, Hinomi and Hinoe seek refuge in their parents’ ancestral home, but their father orders Hinoe to find another hiding place. From Hinomi's correspondence with Ah-shue, she learns Wen-ching was arrested at the Kinguichu Miners' Hospital. In prison, Wen-ching learns the Kuomintang are conducting summary trials and executions. He is released and visits the widow of one of his cellmates who was executed, before tracking down Hinoe, who has married and joined an anti-Kuomintang guerilla group in the mountains. Wen-ching attempts to join Hinoe, who refuses and tells Wen-ching Hiromi loves him. Upon Wen-ching's return to the Lin family house, he finds Hinomi involved in domestic chores there.
Wen-ching informs Hiromi he found Hinoe during his trip. Wen-hsiung, restless on account of having closed the business after the events of February and March, scolds him for not proposing to Hinomi and storms out of the house to gamble with Ah-ga. In the gambling house, Ah-ga confronts one of the gangsters responsible for Wen-liang’s arrest, and a fight ensues in which Wen-hsiung is killed. Shortly after Wen-hsiung’s funeral, Hinomi and Wen-ching marry, and Hinomi gives birth to a boy, Ah-chien.
The couple continue to provide covert funding to Hinoe's resistance group, but the government soon defeats and executes almost all of the guerilla forces, including Hinoe. A survivor informs Wen-ching of this, but Hinomi notes they have nowhere to flee to. Wen-ching is arrested and disappeared by the government for his involvement with the guerillas soon after. In a letter to Ah-shue, Hinomi writes she has searched for news of Wen-ching around Taipei, but cannot find him.
