An unlikely bond forms between an underground debt collector and a cai luong "Vietnamese opera" performer against the backdrop of Saigon in the 90s.

It's 1980s in Saigon. Linh Phung is a star of a traveling Cai-luong (traditional folk opera) troupe deep in debt to a local loan shark. Dung "thunderbolt" is the enforcer come to collect. After an unlikely bond forms between the two, Linh Phung learns how a lived life is necessary for art and Dung follows art back to a life worth living.

Set against a gloriously filmed backdrop of the distinctly jaded charm of mid-'90s Saigon, the lives of two men (Isaac, Lien Binh Phat) intertwine as they are both bound by traditions and honor. One to his mafia family, the other to the traveling troupe that performs elaborate classic operas. Yet they have much more in common than either wants to admit.