'''Tang Shuisheng''' (Wang Xiaoxiao) has arrived in Shanghai to work for a Triad society Boss (played by Li Baotian), also named Tang. He is taken to a warehouse where two rival groups of Triads carry out an opium deal that goes wrong, leaving one of the rival members dead. Shuisheng is then taken by his uncle to Tang's palatial home, where he is assigned to serve '''Xiao Jinbao''' (Gong Li), a cabaret singer and mistress of the Boss. It is soon learned that Jinbao is also carrying on an affair with the Boss's number two man, '''Song''' (Sun Chun).