Ciao UFO

Kin grows up with two loyal friends, Heem and Hoyi, sharing a stubborn dream of something bigger. Their father, a sailor who loves the night sky, teaches Kin to read the stars and spins stories of distant worlds. The trio imagines building their own spaceship, the Wah Fu One, to leave Earth behind.

On a Wah Fu rooftop, the friends glimpse a UFO hidden among the clouds. Kin wishes for aliens to rescue his ailing father, and the moment imprints itself as a turning point in their lives. The sight binds their bond around a shared secret.

Kin's father falls seriously ill during a voyage and slips into a coma. Kin rushes to the hospital where the father wakes briefly but cannot recognize him. The father reveals he once had another family, shattering Kin's sense of belonging and fueling a growing rift.

The revelation drives a wedge between Kin and his friends as memory and reality pull them in different directions. Kin confesses that he wishes he had never seen the UFO, and the bond between them begins to erode. The four friends drift apart as the dream gives way to memory and harsh new realities.

Twelve years pass and Kin is an orphan, having lost both parents. He reconnects with Yan, a former classmate, who hires him to repair her computer. Their renewed closeness deepens quickly as they share fragments of a life they once imagined.

Yan reveals she has kept Kin's homemade stargazing device all these years. Kin urges her to hold onto it, unwilling to erase the past. The moment revisits the power of memory and the stubborn persistence of a dream.

Hoyi has graduated with an accounting degree and hopes to work at the Space Museum, but lacking an astronomy background she faces obstacles. She ends up at an accounting firm where the work is joyless, yet she remains determined to chart a meaningful course. Her longing for a celestial career quietly guides her choices.

Heem appears on a television program criticizing a sensational segment about the dissection of aliens. A scientist dismisses his claims, but Heem presses on, trying to share the truth with a broader audience. Heem then reveals that Kin and Hoyi witnessed the UFO, but both are too absorbed in their own lives to notice the broadcast.

Kin begins speculating in stocks, hoping to improve his fortunes after his renewed independence. The 1997 financial crisis hits and erodes his efforts, leaving him with little more than despair. He sinks into a quiet corner of the city, trying to make sense of his shattered plans.

Yan reveals she is pregnant with the billionaire's child and plans to move to Vancouver. Kin chooses to support Yan financially rather than beg her to stay, accepting a difficult truth with quiet resolve. He respects her autonomy even as it reshapes his own hopes.

Hoyi begins dating Austin, a senior accountant at her firm, and passes professional exams. She quietly accepts engagements and the rhythm of others' plans for her future, even as her own dreams resist the timetable. The sense of constraint grows as her relationship moves toward marriage.

Ho-fung tracks down Heem at his family’s stationery shop and reconnects the old bond. Heem reveals that his leukemia has resurfaced, casting a new shadow over the group’s fragile ties. They cling to memories as they face an uncertain future.

On the wedding day, Heem reconnects with Hoyi and brings an old videotape memorializing their childhood promise to travel into space. Austin treats the memory as childish, forcing Hoyi to reevaluate the life she has chosen. Kin's arrival adds a new tension to a ceremony built on fragile pasts.

Kin arrives at the ceremony, and the trio revisits the night they first saw the UFO to question whether they fulfilled their childhood dream. In a turning moment, Hoyi abandons the wedding and leaves with Kin and Heem, reshaping all their futures. Ho-fung recounts the night they saw the UFO, reaffirming his belief in aliens. The friends close the ritual by watching the videotape again, clinging to memory as the city braces for upheaval; Heem dies soon after from cancer, and the looming SARS outbreak marks the era's malaise.