The day Liao was discharged from prison with his maimed right hand was also the day Nan was forced to retire. Nan will no longer be the head of CIB, just as Liao will no longer be a pickpocket. Liao wants to find the young pickpocket who called him “Daddy” back then, while Nan misses his daughter badly, who hated him profoundly and was unwilling to forgive him. So the two desperate old fellows start trying to find their last hope.
The Qiaotou youth LI Wen-hsin was arrested during the December 10, 1979, demonstration spearheaded by Formosa Magazine. After being thrown into prison, he learned a way to survive: mixing saltwater with white rice. He also recalled wonderful times with his girlfriend A-chun, the joys and suffering he shared with friends and family, and his longing for democracy. In this prison, referred to by inmates as the “Hotel Saltwater,” Wen-hsin and his companions, though suffering greatly, never let their thirst for freedom be extinguished.
This is a story of reminiscence, remembering my long-deceased Grandpa. To remember is to transcend, therefore it’s a story of time and space, overlapped and intertwined. It’s also a quest of love and work, a spiritual and emotional journey; and through which values are re-examined and life reaffirmed.
A has-been newscaster Liu Li-min is taken hostage by an escaped inmate Zhang Zheng-yi, who pleads his innocence. To Liu's astonishment, Zhang claims that he was smeared by Liu's departed wife. Thus, Liu teams up with Zhang and reinvestigates Zhang's murder case to help his beloved be cleared of blame. However, the more they get to the bottom of the case, the further the truth is beyond their reach.
Wen Jixing is a Taiwanese film and television actor.