In 1964, a young Bruce Lee (Philip Ng) owns and operates a San Francisco Kung Fu Academy, specializing in the Chinese martial art Wing Chun. Lee cares for his students, providing advice, roles as extras in his upcoming projects, and defending them from the gangs of Chinatown, San Francisco. One of Lee's students, Steve McKee (Billy Magnussen), spars with Lee while fighting in anger, causing Lee to counter and embarrass him. McKee and Vinnie Wei (Simon Yin) work for the latter's mother's laundry business, where they find out that master Wong Jack Man (Xia Yu (actor)) is on a pilgrimage from China to observe the kung fu scene in the United States. While carrying out a delivery to the China Gate restaurant, McKee falls for an employee, Xiulan (Jingjing Qu), who is forbidden to communicate with anyone on the outside. One night, McKee sneaks over to the restaurant to give her a grammar book, teaching her fellow roommates basic English.