Xiao Hong is a shy 29-year-old man who works in an aquarium fish store and lets his overprotective mother boss him around in all aspects of his life. His cousin decides to take him to a seedy hotel where Sister Lele oversees the prostitution business.

When ghosts must compete to survive in the underworld by haunting the living, one unassuming young woman needs help creating a lasting performance while under the tutelage of a passionate agent and a washed-up diva.

Ah-Xian resides in the heavily polluted industrial area in Kaohsiung, surrounded by a multitude of refineries and chemical plants. She takes on multiple jobs to support her family financially. After she lands a new part-time job as a bathroom cleaning lady on the midnight shift and encounters a young bar patron, she begins to re-examine her life, her marriage, and her family values. Her desire to change reaches a climax.

In 2006, Detective Chang leads a police investigation into a murder committed in a public marketplace. Chang discovers the victim's father has ties to several other families with dead or missing members, and a grim espionage case buried for 50 years in Taiwan's past. Meanwhile, the kidnapped Mr. Hsu is interrogated by a mysterious mastermind. As the truth emerges, the embers of history become a deadly wildfire.