Lin Hsiao-yang tries to keep her family together while working as a waitress at Kentucky Fried Chicken and going to night school. With no mother and her father currently working out of town, it is up to Lin Hsiao-yang to take care of her younger siblings, who are slipping into a life of crime.
Two independent stories involving chess wizards are interwoven to satirize the politics of the Chinese Cultural Revolution as well as Taiwan's capitalist boom of the 1970's.
In 1949, the Communists take over mainland. The refugees and the military arrive in the Keelung Harbor in Taiwan. A father holds secret meetings with other generals in attempt to recover the lost land, his kids still play games with their grandma who enjoys the harmony in hardship.
An evil wizard finds King Solomon's magic lantern, but Solomon's curse prevents him from taking it - only someone born the same month, same day and same hour as Solomon can take it. That someone is Ali Baba, a poor, kind-hearted lad who lives with his brother, Ali Mama (Eric Tsang). When Ali Baba...
