描述六位年輕男女分飾日治與民國時代相距八十年的角色，串接起1930與2010年代的不同身份，對照兩個世代在職業、生活方式、觀念以及政治環境上的差異，側寫臺北西區發展對臺灣歷史的影響。

In contemporary Taiwan, the aboriginal Ah-ming attempts suicide. When his life is saved by an old miner, Ah-ming is drawn into a journey back to his origins. Meanwhile, the miner's son, Ah-Chuan, finds a fugitive hooker who has returned from the lowlands. But Ah-Chuan only wants to integrate himself into mainstream society, in sharp contrast to the intentions and needs of those around him.

As the director and the cameraman of a documentary project, Meng and Jianxian are travelling around Taiwan filming statues of religious and historical figures. Their conversations and debates on the statues often touch the political reality of Taiwan. Meng's girlfriend, Ning, is involved in a mediocre commercial feature film (initially as location scout and subsequently as an actress). Instead of realizing her ambition, she finds herself being exploited by the filmmakers. On the other hand, Meng and Ning's relationship is gradually faded.

During a sweltering summer day on a small island, messenger Qi finds the body of the team commander. Qi finds a grotesque style graffiti book in the commander's pant pocket. Afterwards, all the crazy situations depicted in the graffiti book invade Qi's life day by day. The death of the commander is closely related to another soldier, Yi San, who runs away with his gun and disappears. The dead commander's girlfriend Kang Hua immediately falls into the hands of the new commander...