John (Irons) is an English photojournalist who has spent over a decade in Hong Kong; his friend Jim (Blades) often crashes in his cramped apartment. John's unrequited love is Vivian (Gong Li) whom he aches for but has not the nerve to possess. Concurrent with England's transfer of Hong Kong back to the Chinese, John discovers that he has a rare form of leukemia and has only months to live. So John, Jim, and the disfigured proto-hippy Jean (Cheung) grab a digital video camera and prowl the streets, seeking to document the "real" Hong Kong one last time.