הראפר האמריקאי "ריזה" הופיע כשחקן במספר להיטים ("אמריקן גנגסטר") ותרם מכישרונו המוזיקלי לכמה להיטים אחרים ("גוסט דוג", "להרוג את ביל"). עכשיו הוא מוסיף על אלה גם עבודת בימוי ראשונה – סרט אקשן-הרפתקאות המתרחש בסין במאה ה-19. "ריזה" הוא בלאקסמית' – עבד נמלט שמגיע לכפר נידח כדי לשחרר את אהובתו, ליידי סילק, מהבורדל שמנהלת מאדאם בלוסום (לוסי לו). כנופיית פושעים תפריע לו במשימה, עד שלעזרתו יופיע מטיח הסכינים ג'קנייף, אותו מגלם ראסל קרואו.

In Deliviran, a village near Urfa close to the Syrian border, Hidir’s chief is involved in smuggling and gets shot. Hidir tries to stay out of illegal activities but circumstances contrive to push him in the opposite direction until he accepts to take a herd of sheep across the border.

Hak-ming heads the Ko Family, but he and his brothers, Hak-ting and Hak-on, and the second wife of the late Master Ko quarrel. Young Cousin Mui, who has tuberculosis, is forced by to marry an older woman. Kok-sun is guilty of being unable to stop the marriage. Sun and maid Chui-wan are wary of their feelings for each other due to class difference. Cousin Mui dies of illness. Hak-ting has his eyes on Wan. His wife, Wong, complains to their daughter, Shuk-ching, who cannot take it and commits suicide. Wong blames herself for her death. Undergone these tragedies, Cousin Kam's mother let Kam have a modern wedding with Kok-man. When Ming is ill, Ting and On want to sell the ancestral home. Hak-ming dies of angst. When the fifth uncle of Sun forces Wan to be his concubine, Wan tries to kill herself but is intercepted by Sun. Pressurised by people of the house over the issue of inheritance, Sun protests by declaring his love for Wan and leaves the family, with his mother, brother Man and Wan.

A widow upholds feudal virtue by suppressing her love for a cavalry captain in favor of her daughter.