In late 19th century Hong Kong, the British may rule the land, but the pirates rule the waters. Coast Guard officer Dragon Ma is determined that his beloved Coast Guard will not be made a fool of.

A boat load of illegal Chinese immigrants make it to the California coast. But many of those on board are in a sad state. One of them (Tony Liu) makes a run for it and jumps overboard. He knows what lies ahead for the unlucky few who have manged to survive. The illegal heads for the city to look for a certain individual. Simon Yam stars (in a low key role) as a former triad who's trying to go legit (for some shady ulterior motives. The illegal knows what Simon is all about and wants him in a big way.

In 1985, senior high school student A-Qing was found fornicating with a staff member at school and got expelled. His deeply humiliated veteran father has since cast him out of the family, leaving him with nowhere to go but the refuge of his "own kind" at Taipei New Park. In the park, A-Qing encounters a mature man Long Zi (Dragon) and is attracted to him. However, A-Qing also gets daunted by the story of Long Zi committing a crime of passion.

Ko leads a team of Hong Kong assassins that are taken out one by one. Ko manages to flee to the countryside, where he aims to find out who's behind this and to gain the strength to fight back. Helping him is local girl Tong, whilst chasing Ko is the long arm of the law, represented by cop Chung.

Former DEA Agent Quinlan, removed from the force some years earlier for stealing confiscated drug money, is hired by Chung Wei, a leader in the Amsterdam drug cartel, who wants out of the business. Quinlan's job is to use Chung's information to tip DEA agents to drug busts, thereby destroying the cartel. But when the first two "tips" go awry, resulting in murdered DEA officers, the feds must decide whether to trust Quinlan further...