Yi Yi, like most great films, eludes easy encapsulation. The father, NJ, works for a computer company that is in financial trouble and seeking to contract a genius Japanese video game designer named Ota (Issey Ogata). NJ finds an instant bond with the software guru’s essential decency in the otherwise pitiless world of business. In the meantime, NJ bumps into his first love, Sherry (Su-Yun Ko), whom he has not seen in nearly 30 years and who now lives in the U.S., married to an American. NJ and Sherry do not know whether they want to change the present into the future they never had, or let go of the past. NJ’s wife, Min-Min, is worn down by both her mother’s recent stroke-induced coma and the monotonous routine of daily life, so she seeks solace in a spiritualist cult. Fourteen-year old daughter, Ting-Ting, looks up to her new next-door neighbor Lili (Adrian Lin) while drawing the attentions of Lili’s boyfriend, Fatty (Pang Chang Yu). Yang-Yang is frequently teased by girls and just as frequently gets into trouble at school because of an oppressive teacher, but his little body houses a budding imagination and an omnivorous curiosity. Among the extended family, Min-Min’s brother, A-Di, has just gotten married, but is so financially pinched, he goes to borrow money from his ex-lover, Yun-Yun (Hsin-Yi Tseng).