Zhang Ziyi plays the youngest of three generations of women who leads lives in Shanghai. Joan Chen plays the great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother. The film recounts this family, the mistakes they make, and a cycle that the granddaughter breaks out of.
Gu Yan and Lin Zhouyun become involved when their spouses are abroad.
Taxi driver Xian Feng asks her husband Da Ming for a divorce. A legal technicality forces them to remain together.
During the Chinese-Japanese war, an archaelogist finds the treasury of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, attracting the attention of the Kuomintang, the Japanese and the Green Dragon gang.