In his last letter to his son Eric who has moved to America for decades, legendary Cantonese opera playwright Yip Fei Hung confided that an unproduced script is kept at “Ying Sheung” (both a name or a hidden box). Arriving in Hong Kong to attend his father’s funeral, Eric learns that a new Cantonese opera troupe plans to fund a lavish staging of this work. While searching for the script, Eric discovers his father’s life and his unusual relationship with a retired actor who specialised in Hua Dan (female) roles. A posthumous script reveals sensibilities hidden for a lifetime, leading to a struggle between two generations in their zeal to protect the legacy of Cantonese opera. 

On a night of thunderstorm, while the bewildered playwright is desperate for inspiration for his new play at home, a woman of mystery shows up and introduces herself as Fangyi, a well-known character in the classic Chinese play The Thunderstorm. In a tête-à-tête with the playwright, she reveals hidden stories about the family of her husband Zhou Puyuan. When the playwright is about to put pen to paper these ambivalent stories, Zhou appears with rage and forbids the playwright from writing about his family. Then other characters from The Thunderstorm appear one after another to make their stories heard. As the playwright tries to refute the credibility of their stories, his wife surprisingly appears in the Zhou family…