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Read the complete plot breakdown of The Dragon Family (1988), including all key story events, major twists, and the ending explained in detail. Discover what really happened—and what it all means.
Lung Ying, patriarch of the Lung family and the recognized leader of the four Triad clans, aims for a clean break from the drug trade and a shift toward legitimate business. As Nos. 3 and 4 of the four families begin to follow this path, the formidable White Wolf, Ku Feng, remains a stubborn exception, continuing his illegal operations. Lung entrusts his hitman and adopted son, Allan Alan Tam, with a dangerous mission: to kill Wolf’s drug lord underling, the ruthless enforcer known as Golden Teeth Shing Shing Fui-On, and to send Allan into hiding in Taiwan to evade the police.
When Wolf discovers the betrayal, he erupts with anger and calls upon his second in command, Tsui. Simultaneously, Wolf’s underling and the accountant of the four families, Kui (Ho Ka-kui), pleads for mercy as HK$5 million goes missing, only to reveal his collusion with Tsui. Lung’s second son, Ka-yip Kent Tong Chun-Yip, has fallen into debt with Wolf after a casino loss, and Tsui and Kui lure him into an audacious plan to help ship cocaine from Lung’s container terminal.
The trap escalates at Wolf’s wood factory in Cha Kwo Ling, where Lung arrives with his trusted bodyguard, Po Kent Cheng Jak-Si, while Lung’s brother-in-law, Sek Lau Kar-Wing, waits in the car. Wolf’s demand is blunt: Lung must kill Ka-yip on the spot. Lung refuses, stabs himself in a symbolic defiance, and asks for two days to investigate, but Wolf rejects the delay. Tsui fans the flames, while Kui violently accuses Lung of the missing money. The tension crescendos when Ka-wai [Michael Miu Kiu-Wai] arrives and storms the factory, swiftly beating Wolf’s henchmen before Kui presses a knife against Lung’s neck. Ka-wai retaliates, flinging his pants as a distraction, and a brutal clash ensues that ends with Lung mortally wounded.
In the aftermath, as Ka-wai and Ka-yip dart between anger and resolve, Lung’s family reels from the loss. In the hospital, Ka-wai lunges at Ka-yip for his treachery, but the pulse of family loyalty wins out as Lung dies, his wife and Ka-wah, the youngest son, arriving in grief. The scene shifts to a quiet, grim funeral where the taunts of Wolf’s gang echo, and the armed attack erupts under the cover of prayers, with Sgt Fung Stanley Fung Shui-Fan leading his men against the onslaught. The massacre spares no one, and the Triad bosses—along with Ka-wai’s wife and others—fall in a brutal barrage. Only Ka-wah and his mother manage to escape, though Ka-wah sustains injuries that leave him scarred and on the run.
The surviving family members scramble to pick up the shattered pieces. Po rescues Ka-chung Max Mok Siu-Chung from the airport, and a roadblock conversation with Sergeant Fung reveals the grim truth of the massacre. Ka-chung returns to Hong Kong with Allan, and the two regroup with Ka-wah, who is now working as a pimp to support his mother. The trio tails Tsui as he campaigns for district council, hoping for a chance to settle scores once and for all. Reuniting with Ka-wah’s brother on the other side of the law, they confront the bitter reality of revenge within a family already torn apart.
Tragically, the pursuit leads to a brutal revelation: Ka-wah’s mother is found at a tomb, and the trio discovers her fate on a burning boat, set alight by Tsui’s henchmen. The grieving process hardens their resolve, and they press on to bring Tsui to account. They corner Kui in a bar and drag him to Tsui’s drug factory, where a fierce firefight erupts. Ka-chung, Ka-wah, and Allan move through the chaos, confronting Tsui’s henchmen and their drug trade. A hidden shotgun in Ka-wah’s pants becomes a decisive weapon, a flaming bottle wielded by Allan seals Tsui’s fate, and Tsui crashes through a window to his death.
In the end, the cycle of loss and revenge leaves Ka-wah, Ka-chung, and Allan as the last men standing. The saga closes on a grim note: the clan’s internal vendetta has unmade them, and the only survivors bear the burden of a family torn apart by power, betrayal, and bloodshed.
Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 14:24
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