All-American couple who try to bridge the generation gap with their free-spirited son on a trip, frisky business and misunderstandings galore ensue, all funny, vibrant and charming.
Poor teacher Chan Chi-hong, his wife Lee Yuk-mei and their five children survive on his meagre pay. When he is laid off by two schools in a row, the family runs into difficulties. The children resort to begging on the streets to pay the mother's medical bills. Turning to writing, Chan's novel fails to find a publisher and, worse still, he comes down with tuberculosis. Dealt a further blow by the death of the youngest daughter and the pressures from the loan sharks, Chan contemplates killing himself and his family but changes his mind when he witnesses the sacrifices made by other parents for their children. He vows to be a dutiful father and tries his best to overcome their adversities. His novel is finally published and sells well. Through thick and thin, the family at last sees the light at the end of the tunnel.
In an empty house, we see the memories of a home, from those who once lived and filled it with joy and love.
An opera troupe has to dissolve in view of the poor economy. Comedian star Sang Kwai-lei loses his job and he has no alternative but to play the lion character in the opera troupe of his former junior apprentice Chan Hau and pawn his stage costume. He aims at earning enough money to support the final year's secondary school studies of his elder son Chi-kuen. Kuen however refuses to continue his studies, seeing that his father has to put aside his dignity to earn money and his mother is worried. Lei is enraged and uses the money to support his younger son Chi-wai's studies.
Again, Lei loses his job and he resorts to giving street performances, his wife takes up sowing work in her spare time and she dies after a long illness. Kuen works to support himself through school, but Wai is less fortunate, he is forced to enrol in an opera troupe as an apprentice. Years later, the dying father joyfully embraces Chi-kuen's return from his studies.