An exploration of Chinese cinema and its relationships with gender and sexuality, which the film argues has been more frankly and provocatively explored than in any other national cinema. Utilizing both film excerpts and interviews with many leading directors and academics, the film examines topics such as male bonding in kung fu movies, depictions of same-sex bonding and physical intimacy, the emphasis on women's grievances in melodramas, and the career of Yam Kim-Fai, a Hong Kong actress who spent her life portraying men on and off the screen.

Narcotics officer Shaolun (Tony Leung Ka Fai), in order to bring down the local drug kingpin King (Michael Wong), forces a female street thug with an equally sketchy past, Coco (Rosamund Kwan) to infiltrate King's organization and provide information. What no one expected was for both men to fall for Coco, and Coco for King.

Two women are bound for the same plane, one of whom makes the flight while the other does not. In a cruel twist of fate, the plane crashes, killing everyone on board, and leaving the friends and family of the two women to talk about what was and what could have been.

Based on the tragic true story of China's first prima donna of the silver screen, Ruan Lingyu, chronicling her rise to fame as a movie actress in Shanghai during the 1930s.