Two feuding families brag about their sons on christening day. One, called Long-life, is destined to die early, while Sing, the other, will do well. Twenty years pass. Long-life has survived, and he fancies pretty Hsio. In a scene stolen from My Life As A Dog, he spies on her in the shower, falls through the roof, kisses her as he lands..... but then her spirit leaves her body. Having died naked, Hsio wanders around sans clothing, and is dubbed the Shy Ghost by other spirits she meets. What follows mainly concerns her family and friend's efforts to lay her spirit to rest. These include taking revenge on Long-Life, getting some clothes to her, stacks of fu fighting, incantations and a duel between a buddhist and a taoist.

In Taiwan, a young woman, Lin-Lang, is released from prison after serving ten years for terrorist activity. She had turned to bomb making in grief after her mentor and lover, An Rong, who was also her university professor, was arrested for political activity and, she presumed, executed. In prison, she learns Rong is alive, and she maintains her spirits and sanity for the years in her cell by holding imaginary conversations with him. When she is released, she discovers he is married, has a child, and lives conventionally. She finds him; he's not happy to see her. How she reacts to losing the center of her life becomes the subject of the film.

A Buddhist lama and an evil wizard battle for the Palace of Heaven.

Two feuding families brag about their sons on christening day. One, called Long-life, is destined to die early, while Sing, the other, will do well. Twenty years pass. Long-life has survived, and he fancies pretty Hsio. In a scene stolen from My Life As A Dog, he spies on her in the shower, falls through the roof, kisses her as he lands..... but then her spirit leaves her body. Having died naked, Hsio wanders around sans clothing, and is dubbed the Shy Ghost by other spirits she meets. What follows mainly concerns her family and friend's efforts to lay her spirit to rest. These include taking revenge on Long-Life, getting some clothes to her, stacks of fu fighting, incantations and a duel between a buddhist and a taoist.