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A streetwise young man becomes a bodyguard to score quick cash. He befriends a disillusioned mercenary determined to begin life anew. They find themselves working together to foil an assassination attempt, but their partnership can't last.
Plainclothes policemen Brian and Mike use an elderly woman's apartment for surveillance, hoping to catch a fugitive gangster. They develop a warm relationship with their hostess, whom they call "granny." Meanwhile, each man develops a romantic relationship: Brian with a strange wandering teenage girl, and Mike with a pregnant woman at the dry cleaning shop. When the gangster returns to his flat, Brian and Mike are forced into an explosive confrontation.
During the Soong Dynasty, a beautiful woman named Liu is searching for a husband, but is unable to find one until she hears the avant-garde poetry of Chen. Soon the two are married and Chen discovers that his new bride is violently temperamental and insanely jealous, who limits his activities and lifestyle. When a princess falls in love with the poet and the Emperor decrees that Chen must take the princess in as a second-wife. The love between Liu and Chen is put to the test.
At the end of the 19th century, Shanghai is divided into several foreign concessions. In the British concession, a number of luxurious “flower houses” are reserved for the male elite of the city. Since Chinese dignitaries are not allowed to frequent brothels, these establishments are the only ones that these men can visit. They form a self-contained world, with its own rites, traditions and even its own language. The men don’t only visit the houses to frequent the courtesans but also to dine, smoke opium, play mahjong and relax. The women working there are known as the “flowers of Shanghai”.
