Rawang, an immigrant from Bangladesh living in awful conditions, takes pity on a Chinese man, Hsiao-kang, who is beaten up and left in the street. Rawang lovingly nurses him on a mattress he found. When he is almost healed, Hsiao-kang meets the waitress Chyi. His love for Rawang is put to the test.

Tsai Ming-liang, master of heartfelt, deadpan melancholy, is usually considered a Taiwanese director. In fact born in Malaysia, Tsai makes a conflicted return to home for this gorgeously decaying film set in a lost city beset by troubles, wandered by his regular muse and alter-ego Lee Kang-sheng.