The Wedding Banquet

Wai-Tung and his partner Simon live openly as a couple in Manhattan, but Wai-Tung has not come out to his traditional parents in Taiwan. They navigate a future where family expectations loom while keeping their relationship private. The tension between desire for freedom and cultural duty threads through their daily life.

Mr. and Mrs. Gao hire a dating service back in Taiwan to find a suitable fiancé for their son. The couple tries to stall by inventing ridiculous requirements that seem impossible to meet. The agency begins a search that will pull Wai-Tung into a deception about his life.

The service locates a woman who is nearly perfect in many regards, though she has only one PhD instead of two. She is gracious and understands their predicament, while concealing her own secret relationship with a white man. Wai-Tung and Simon reluctantly commit to the plan and prepare to present her to his parents.

Simon explains Wai-Tung's habits and lifestyle to Wei-Wei so the pair can pretend a conventional marriage. They strip the apartment of gay imagery and replace it with Mandarin calligraphy to convey a respectable, traditional home. The deception is designed to placate Wai-Tung's parents and secure the sham.

Mr. and Mrs. Gao arrive to visit their son, bringing gifts and US$30,000 to fund an extravagant wedding. They believe Wai-Tung is engaged to a wealthy fiancée and begin to plan a grand celebration. The lie expands as the family prepares to meet the ‘fiancée’.

The day after the Gaos arrive, Wai-Tung announces that he and Wei-Wei plan to marry before a Justice of the Peace. The news sets expectations high and puts pressure on everyone to maintain the deception. His mother experiences a quiet heartbreak at the idea of a small courthouse ceremony.

Wai-Tung and Wei-Wei proceed with a courthouse wedding, but the arrangement exposes Wei-Wei's lower social status and provokes heartbreak in Wai-Tung's mother. The family tries to hide their disappointment while continuing the lie for the sake of family harmony. This moment tests Wai-Tung's loyalty to both partners.

To salvage the situation, Wai-Tung accepts an extravagant wedding banquet offered by Mr. Gao's former batman, who now runs a restaurant and reception hall. The event is designed to impress relatives and seal the sham marriage. The guests arrive with frenetic energy, heightening the pressure to perform the perfect family image.

An after-party in the bridal suite devolves into demands that the couple consummate their marriage, and Wei-Wei becomes pregnant. The unexpected turn complicates the ruse and triggers a crisis for the trio. The moment marks a turning point in their relationships.

Simon is furious when the pregnancy and deception are revealed, and the tension among Wai-Tung, Wei-Wei, and Simon mounts. The strain threatens to break the fragile arrangement and tests each partner's commitment. The fallout changes the dynamics of their unconventional family.

Mr. Gao suffers another stroke, and in anger after the fight Wai-Tung confesses the truth to his mother. She is shocked and pleads with him to keep the truth from Wai-Tung's father. Meanwhile, Mr. Gao senses more of the truth and begins to treat Simon as family.

Mr. Gao reveals that he knows about Wai-Tung and Simon's relationship and considers Simon his son. He hands Simon a hongbao and asks him to keep the truth secret so that the family can still have a grandchild. The gesture deepens the bond between the three and cements a nontraditional family.

On the way to an abortion appointment, Wei-Wei decides to keep the baby and asks Simon to stay with Wai-Tung as the baby's father too. Their decision reframes their commitments and softens the earlier hostility. The trio contemplates a redefined family beyond the wedding ruse.

At the airport, Mr. Gao warmly accepts Simon and shakes his hand as the Gaos depart. Mrs. Gao bids Wei-Wei farewell, and the unconventional new family is left to figure out their future together, free from the illusion of a traditional marriage.