In New York's Chinatown of the late 1940's, young Ben Loy, fresh out of the service, has his whole life spread out before him - including a job, an apartment and a marriage arranged by his father.

Episodic story, divided into five chapters, each bearing the name of a character. Most of the characters are connected by the fact that they hang out or work at the Brooklyn Cigar Store, where they tell stories and smoke a lot. Chapters explore the interpersonal relationships between this large and diverse group of people.

A mystery man, a murder, and a wad of missing cash in his wryly offbeat breakthrough, Wayne Wang updates the ingredients of classic film noir for the streets of contemporary San Francisco's Chinatown. When their business partner disappears with the money they had planned to use for a cab license, driver Jo and his nephew Steve scour the city's back alleys, waterfronts, and Chinese restaurants to track him down. But what begins as a search for a missing...

Georgia Byrd is a department store employee who leads a life of frustrated desires. She particularly likes the bashful salesman from the outdoor furnishings department. But when she learns she only has a few weeks left to live, Georgia gathers her money, quits her job, and flies to the swank European resort she's always dreamed of visiting. Naturally, her new carelessness with money and fearless candor lead everyone around her, including a senator...

The heartwarming 'tail' of a young girl whose life is changed by a scruffy, fun-loving pooch she names Winn-Dixie. The special bond between them works magic on her reserved dad and the eccentric townspeople they meet during one unforgettable summer.

Wayne Wang's follow-up to his watershed indie Chan Is Missing is a family portrait that gracefully combines the director's signature gentle humanism and eye for poignant detail. Offering another fresh perspective on San Francisco's Chinese American community, Wang takes a bittersweet look at the generational pas de deux between an aging immigrant widow and her devoted daughter, torn between filial duty and her desires.

Adele, a flashy, flirtatious dreamer, and her daughter Ann, a quiet, no-nonsense realist, head for Hollywood where Adele thinks life will be better for both of them.