Struggling artist Ned Templeton and his wife Joan are leading a poverty-stricken life in Paris. Threatened by starvation and eviction, Joan is forced to become a prostitute. After some time, Ned becomes successful, and he and Joan move to New York. There he meets Helen, daughter of wealthy art patron James Cartwright. Cartwright was the man who "bought" Joan in Paris, and when he learns that his daughter's happiness depends upon Ned's divorce, he threatens to expose Joan.

Munich at night: Robert Susmeit, a 16-year-old teenager who is jealously obsessed with his mother Hilde, traces her and her latest lover at a mundane apartment building where he kills the man in the heat of the moment at a swimming pool. His fatal outburst is secretly witnessed by Moni Dingeldey, a girl of the same age as his. Fascinated by the shaken and devastated strange boy who she hopes to be a soul-mate, she hides Robert in her mother's apartment. Meanwhile, a crowd of policemen and reporters frantically comb through the building in search a murderer whose identity is known only to Robert's parents who are searching as well...

This crime drama follows a group of young men, who at face value just appear to be nasty thugs that above all else are up for a good fight. Trying desperately to make a name for themselves and become the type of gangsters people bow down to, Zheng cleverly takes the edge off the brutality by balancing it with some charmingly dry humour.