This beautiful and evocative film is set in Hong Kong of 1962. Chow, a newspaper editor, moves into a building with his wife, where Li-zhen, a beautiful secretary and her husband, have also moved in. With their spouses often away, Chow and Li-zhen cross each others path, and a discovery of common tastes begins. Their worlds are turned upside down when they discover their spouses having an affair with each other. Hurt and angry, they seek comfort in one another. As the friendship grows into something more, they resolve not to go the path of their unfaithful mates. But can matters of the heart be controlled so easily ?