Li Hong, Maggie Cheung, leaves Shawan Village in Panyu, Guangzhou to study in New York City on a student visa, taking with her the difficult choice of leaving her infant son in the care of her schoolteacher husband, Zhao Nansheng, and his elderly parents. From the start, her letters home carry a tone of homesickness, but Zhao urges her to persevere. A few months into her new life, Li hints that she might soon qualify for permanent residence and, in a painful turn, requests a divorce, ceasing further communication with him. The news devastates Zhao, who then makes a drastic decision: he travels to Panama and, through a perilous route, is smuggled into New York via Mexico.
Unable to speak much English, Zhao seeks help from a local artist friend who had coincidentally met Li at his gallery, where Li is living under a new name, Elaine. The friend, overwhelmed by the idea of housing an illegal immigrant, cannot assist Zhao, leaving him to fend for himself on unfamiliar streets. In the blur of crowded avenues, Zhao spots a prostitute who seems to bear a resemblance to his wife. He follows her into a brothel, only to be confronted by the pimp. A struggle erupts and Zhao unintentionally shoots the pimp, after which he and the woman he was pursuing flee. The woman reveals herself to be a fifteen-year-old runaway from Detroit named Jane, Hayley Man.
Jane agrees to help Zhao locate Li. Their search uncovers Li’s efforts to adapt: she attended English classes and briefly worked at a Taiwanese restaurant in Harlem. The restaurant owners tell Zhao that Li had once endured a troubling incident—she was raped at work by two African Americans—and they last saw her with a Chinese businessman who had given her money. Zhao and Jane confront him at his laundry shop, where he admits he had entered into a sham marriage with Li, who then absconded with his money.
Zhao’s life spirals into debauchery, and he eventually becomes Jane’s pimp. One night, he shares a kiss with Jane and immediately feels a deep sense of revulsion toward his actions. Jane decides to redirect her life by returning to school, and the two part ways. Months later, Zhao unexpectedly encounters Li again while she works as a deliveryman. Li, now conversant in English, treats Zhao as though he were a stranger and even calls him a slur. She rushes to a park in Chinatown, attempting to defraud several elderly retirees as Zhao intervenes, urging her to seek help from a psychologist.
In a gripping turn of events, Li fatally stabs Zhao with a screwdriver, and he collapses at the foot of a Statue of Liberty replica while clinging to a photograph of the couple with their son. Moments later, Li recognizes the people in the blood-stained photograph but remains oblivious to Zhao’s lifeless body.
In a mid-credits scene, back in Guangzhou, Li and Zhao’s son continues living with his grandparents, seemingly unaware of the fate of his parents, hinting that the family’s story will remain unfinished in the eyes of the world they left behind.
