Chang Jia-han, nicknamed A-han, reflects on a recent confrontation with Father Oliver, the school priest and band director, who assumes the clash was sparked by a girl A-han likes. A-han stays quiet, leaving the assumption hanging in the air as the world around him shifts with Taiwan’s late-1980s atmosphere.
Set against Taiwan as martial law eases in 1987, the arrival of Birdy to a strict, all-boys Catholic high school stirs the campus climate. Their first encounter happens during a pool training session, where a fragile connection begins to flicker between them. The night air brings a bolder energy as the boys sneak out to meet a group of girls, but A-han’s moment of vulnerability—the moment he cannot achieve an erection with one of them—casts a quiet ache over the evening. Another night, a tension-filled moment erupts when A-han witnesses his friend Horn and his cohort bully and assault a homosexual student; A-han steps in, hoping to halt the violence, yet the attackers press him to join their cruelty, and Birdy steps in to pull him away, choosing a different path.
After the unexpected death of President Chiang Ching-kuo, Birdy and A-han travel to Taipei to mourn on behalf of their school, and their shared experience deepens their bond. They witness a harsh police response to a homosexual protester, Chi Chia-wei, and A-han urges Birdy not to intervene in the moment of anger. In a video salon screening of a film about Birdy, A-han leans in to kiss a sleeping Birdy, but room service interrupts them. Birdy opens up about his dream to become a filmmaker and asks A-han to join him in film school in Taipei, revealing a longing that goes beyond friendship. The next morning, A-han awakens with a vivid, intimate feeling for Birdy and a wish to pursue what they could be together.
As a new school term begins and the campus adopts co-education, strict gender lines emerge. Birdy, who is accused of homosexuality, grows closer to Ban-ban, a female student, after defending her in a dispute with a teacher, which fuels A-han’s jealousy. In response, Birdy asks A-han to stop trying to be alone with him, and A-han finds himself going out with a girl he had met before. She suggests he send a coded pager message to confess his feelings to Birdy, but the message goes unanswered as Birdy is with Ban-ban.
One night, A-han helps Birdy pull off a prank involving a giant balloon, which turns out to be a setup for Birdy’s confession of love to Ban-ban the following morning. Seeking a different kind of solace, A-han encounters an older man who makes an unwanted advance; A-han resists and flees. He confides in Father Oliver, telling him that he would rather go to hell for being understood by others.
After Birdy wrecks A-han’s scooter, A-han helps him recover, assists with a shower, and the two share an intimate moment in which Birdy kisses A-han after a hesitant handjob. Yet the pair’s closeness deepens the trouble around them: Ban-ban’s expulsion for the love confession and Birdy’s detention push the two apart. When Birdy’s father arrives at the school and beats him, A-han intervenes, but their clash ends in a fight. The conversation with Father Oliver later reveals a shared history of rebellion and the priest’s own struggle with his sexuality.
Learning Birdy is at A-han’s home, A-han hurries to confront the moment as a heated argument with Birdy erupts, and he nearly comes out to his parents. He runs away to Penghu, where the two escape to a beach for skinny-dipping. Lying naked on the sand, they share a kiss, but then part ways as Birdy prioritizes university exams. A-han calls one last time to confess his love, to the sound of Crowd Lu’s Your Name Engraved Herein, and both cry, overwhelmed by heartbreak.
Years pass, and a middle-aged A-han attends his school’s marching band reunion hoping for Birdy’s presence, only to meet Ban-ban again, now Birdy’s ex-wife and mother of his children. Ban-ban explains she and Birdy rarely see each other and wishes Birdy had confided in her about his sexuality. A-han then travels to Quebec City to visit Father Oliver’s grave and meets the priest’s former lover, who reveals how Father Oliver fought with his own homosexuality and turned to religion to suppress his true self.
In a final, quiet turn, A-han unexpectedly runs into Birdy outside a bar. Birdy admits that he truly loved A-han but could not accept it in the moment. As they walk, a younger version of A-han begins singing the same beloved song, and a younger Birdy joins in, watched by their older selves, underscoring how history and memory keep their feelings alive even as time moves on.
