'...is unsuitable for any man's love.' (Xi Xi, A Woman Like Me) Sum-yin patches up wounds, masks scars and performs other beautician services that, when done well - as she always does - bring comfort to her and appreciation from grateful families. But inside she's hurting. Her job as a mortuary cosmetologist makes her self-conscious about the smell of death that seems to be seeping through and under her skin and looming over her stagnant relationship with Kwan, her oblivious boyfriend. No amount of cigarettes and perfume and cleaning will rid of it. At some point, a decision has to be made.

Ah Poon is a man of strong principles, and adopts Lu Xun’s quote of “Fierce-browed, I coolly defy a thousand pointing fingers” as his motto. When he gets into a fight with school authority because of something written by his daughter, he takes his daughter away in rage. Is Ah Poon right or wrong?