China was in turmoil in 1921 when renowned Japanese novelist, Ryunosuke Akutagawa, (author of "Rashomon") visits Shanghai as a newspaper correspondent. He'd read classic Chinese novels growing up but China is quite different from the utopian place that he was expecting. It's hard for him to reconcile fantasy with reality. In a country lost between hope and despair, the novelist meets a variety of locals from revolutionaries to prostitutes, each affecting him in unexpected ways...