Tenderly depressing gay love story or steamy sex romp? I'll let you be the judge
After a brief introduction to Sam (Daniel Wu) and Kana (knockout Shu Qi), we notice Jet (Stephen Fung), an attractive male prostitute. He picks up a creepy old john (James Wong, as the Justice of the Peace) before noticing Sam and Kana in an antique store. Jet waves to the couple and heads off to work.
The SM Bay bar is the local hangout for Hong Kong's male prostitutes. The owner, Tsu (Cheung Tat-Ming), whips the boys into shape and sends Jet's friend & roommate Ching (Jason Tsang) out on a date. Ching, clad in a Hawaiian shirt and black leather pants, plops down on a bed next to a reasonably attractive man in a hotel room. He unbuckles his leather pants and is thrown to the bed by the exuberant john. Tasteful cut to black before anything really steamy takes place.
Back at Jet & Ching's apartment, Jet swills beer and relates his Sam sighting to Ching. Ching refers to himself as the "Widow of SM Bay" due to his ill-fated relationships, and mentions that he was ogled by the famous pop-idol K.S. (Terence Yin) after his hotel date.
Meanwhile, there's some hanky-panky going on between the Hong Kong police and an adult-photographer, Gucci (Joe Junior), who likes to see the men in blue posing for naughty photos. Gucci laments the loss of his finest policeman model, a young man who looks like Andy Lau.
At SM Bay, Jet is paged by someone who identifies himself as Sam. He meets the stranger and discovers that Ching took out a personal ad for him in the paper, leaving his beeper number. Jet storms back to SM Bay and throws the paper at Ching. Tsu takes advantage of the confusion and sends Jet out to a wealthy client (Ng Hong-Ning). Jet lets the john fondle him, then starts to leave once his pager goes off. Bad move, as the rich client has a couple of large goons waiting outside. Jet is thrown on a hotel bed and raped by his hostile client.
Recovering from the hotel encounter, Jet runs into Sam, patrolling the beat. Time passes in a strange way, and in the next scene we see Jet informing Ching & his co-worker Sindy that he's been to Sam's house for dinner. Jet still hasn't made his move on Sam yet - or told him that he's a professional prostitute - but all in good time.
That night, Jet shows up for a second dinner at Sam's house. Sam's mom (Chiao Chiao) has prepared a feast for everyone, including Sam's specially prepared steamed fish. Sam gives his dad (Kenneth Tsang) the fish's head as a treat. After dinner, Sam takes Jet up to the roof and explains that he likes to hang out in high places when he's feeling depressed. Uh-oh.
Jet returns to SM Bay, and heads off with Ah Ching & Sindy to the local nightclub. He runs into Kana and pops off an effectively crude pick-up line. Kana declines, and then scoots off with a rather butch-looking lesbian, tapping Jet gently on the nose as she passes.
The next day, Sam's mother confides to Jet that she's worried that her son hasn't done anything worse than smoking in his life ("He wants so desperately for people to see him as good"). Jet takes note.
On the streets of Hong Kong, Ching passes by an on-duty Sam, and greets him happily as "Fei". Sam doesn't recognize Ching, and asks for I.D. Ching gives a fantastic reaction shot (disbelief, amusement, anger), then hands Sam his card. Afterwards, a depressed Ching heads to Gucci's place, and we enter a narrative flashback.
Five years ago, Sam was known as "Fei", and worked with Ching at a clerical job. Ching & Fei became steadfast friends, although it seems that Ching pretty much always had a crush on Fei.
On Ching's birthday, Fei presents him with a ceramic fan and mentions that he ran into an up-and-coming rock star, K.S. Fei and Ching make a date later that night for a movie. After the movie, Ching takes Fei back to his tiny, cramped apartment and they start loosening ties and massaging each other. Sam mocks Ching's undershirt ("That's so nerdy") as an unusual bit of foreplay.
Ching is regaling Sindy with the pain of meeting up again with Fei again. Ching dredges up some dark memories while Sindy looks put out.
Out on the streets, pop sensation K.S. is busy signing autographs for a screaming horde of teen girls. Two policemen, Sam and his partner, approach. Sam's partner gets an autograph, while Sam tries to avoid K.S.'s happy, then confused, glance at him.
At Sam's house, Jet is helping Sam's mother fold clothes. He's digging the whole domestic scene, and tells Sam's mom that he's in love, but neglects to tell her that it's with her son. Jet later confides in Sam that he's in love with someone, but Sam seems oblivious and uninterested.
Flashback: On the streets, Fei literally runs into K.S., a spiky-haired, energetic up-and-coming singer. K.S. sizes him up then treats him to an orange juice at a local bar. At the bar, K.S. yammers on about his real name (Kingsly), about his idol, James Dean, and about knowing that he was going to be famous. Fei remains in a happy, befuddled daze. K.S. leans in close, and asks Fei if he's gay. Fei refuses to answer and indignantly shoots the question back. K.S. responds "I am if you are", then proceeds to give Fei a copy of his home phone number, just in case.
Fei calls K.S. and is treated to a messy apartment with porn scattered everywhere, homemade soup, and sex in the shower.
Ah, but it's not all pillow fights and porn with K.S. Turns out he's also running a high debt from his bank for his extravagant spending habits. Fei offers to help, even though K.S. doesn't ask for, or even want it. Fei asks Ching for the money to pay off K.S's debts. Ching doesn't have the money but, because he loves Fei, he heads over to SM Bay and whores himself out. Ching gives the money to Fei to give to K.S. K.S. ignores Fei's money and raves about his new orange jacket which he bought for $15,000.
Fei goes on a date with Gucci, who dresses him up in the police uniform, starts snapping pictures, and then starts unsnapping Fei's clothes. Fei poses in police garb for Gucci, and lets Gucci undress and fondle him completely. Our esteemed narrator (Brigitte Lin) tells us, in Mandarin, that Fei doesn't feel bad about doing this for money for K.S., but I secretly think he does.
Eventually, Fei breaks up with K.S., and decides he likes wearing a police uniform for real. He quits his clerical job, changes his name to Sam and follows in his fathers footsteps, becoming a member of the Royal Hong Kong Police Force.
Back in real time, Sindy's ditching out of the SM Bay scene to move to England with his sugar-daddy. Jet's turning up the heat to get Sam into bed, and even shows up at Sam's place, pretending to be locked out of his apartment. Sam gives Jet his bed, and then crawls off to sleep on the couch. Jet tries to wake Sam for some hanky-panky, to no avail.
The next day, Jet is picked up by K.S. in a sporty, bathtub Porsche. Jet, frustrated at his lack of advances with Sam, agrees to go home with K.S. K.S. sniffs Jet, is reminded of Fei's scent and asks if he can buy Jet a present. Jet says not to bother, that he'll never see him again. K.S. pouts and slumps as Jet leaves.
Jet has decided, finally and truly, to get Sam into bed. Since Jet's a professional prostitute, I'm kind of amazed that he's held out for this long. Jet pretends to twist his ankle during a volleyball game, necessitating Sam to help him back to his apartment for a bit of healing. Things are getting rather steamy, and Jet leaves the room to change, when Ching returns to the apartment. He sees Sam waiting for Jet, then realizes that Sam's not there for him. Sam beats a hasty retreat, and Ching angrily destroys the ceramic fan that Fei gave him for his birthday.
Jet rushes after Sam (leg fine now), and confronts him in his apartment ("Do you think you're the only one with secrets?").
Sam and Jet throw each other against the wall, onto the bed and start snogging like crazy. It's getting pretty steamy by the time Sam hears a door being hastily slammed shut. This effectively pours water on Sam, who abruptly asks Jet to leave.
That night, at dinner, Sam tries to figure out which of his parents caught him making out with Jet. He approaches his dad on the balcony and sees the tears in the corner of his father's eyes Sam returns to his room, crying, and then starts to purposefully write a note. He heads for the roof, mortally ashamed that he disgraced his parents, and kills himself by jumping off.
Days pass, and Jet's still heard no word from Sam. He's decided to drink and whore himself into a drunken orgy of vice, and is getting blowjobs by creepy bespectacled gentlemen in clubs.
Kana strides purposefully down alleyways towards Jet's apartment, letter in hand. She delivers Sam's final package to Jet: a newspaper clipping of the ad for Sam that Ching took out for Jet, and a letter saying that he kept Jet's ad to show him at a later time.
Jet smokes and bawls, while the narration incongruously tells us that: "After grieving, Jet had a good night's rest, knowing that Sam loved him." Jet's dream that night is of policeman Sam ascending a flight of stairs, presumably to heaven.