In 1942 Shanghai is under Japanese occupation. Mrs. Mak enters a cafe, makes a call, sits down and waits. She remembers how her story began some years before, in 1938 in China. Her real name is Wong Chia Chi and she was left by her father shortly before the war, as he fled to England. At university Wong met Kuang Yu Min, who led a theatre group, to support patriotism. Soon Wong becomes the main actress. Kuang organised a group of students to plan an assasination on Mr. Yee, a collaborator of the Japanaese. Every student was to play a role. Wong became Mrs. Mak, who should get friends with Mrs. Yee and begin an affair with her husband. But because of an unfortunate incident she had to escape the country.
In 1941 Wong returned from Hong Kong to Shanghai where she met Kuang again, who was now a member of the organised resistance. He persuaded her to act once again as Mrs. Mak, still trying to kill Mr. Yee, now leader of the collaborators. The hunt takes Wong to the limits of her identity.