Li Youning

The rebellious and free-spirited Li Lin and the introverted Wu Ai-hua are best friends who grow up together in the military dependents' village. However, they both fall in love with pilot He Kang, their mutual childhood friend. After He Kang is killed in a crash, the village only reminds the heartbroken girls of the tragedy. They escape to Taipei and work as hostess and accountant, earning a living from American soldiers on leave from Vietnam. The girls reunite with Michael, an American flight instructor, at the club. Michael ardently pursues Li Lin, but struggling to forget He Kang, Li Lin rejects Michael' s proposal. Having taken different paths, the two girls eventually return to their childhood village, reminiscing about the bonds of the past.

After falling in love with a traffic cop, a cab driver commits as many traffic violations as he can in order to see her again.

After having their son, a young couple divorces, with the child remaining with the father. The two endure poverty because the father has trouble finding and keeping jobs. Story mainly focuses on the father-son relationship and difficulties of being a single parent.

Four Hands relates a family drama that spans China and Taiwan over three generations. The story deals with a veteran of the Chinese Nationalist army who retreated to Taiwan only to discover that the dreams of “reconquering the mainland” are empty rhetoric.

The story of Lao Mo, a Taiwanese veteran who does not want to live a lonely life as an old man.

The film consists of three stories: One about a 5-year-old girl, one about a teenager, and still another about a 30 something woman involved in an affair with a married man. Without providing a definite answer whether the three leading actresses are playing the same person in different stages of life, the movie instead hovers on several consistent themes that keep on emerging in all the stories. For example, the image of drops of blood on the clothes, in the shape of maroon flowers.