Perhaps we form our likings later in life, whereas our childhood memories shape what makes us feel at home. Yuan moves to Hong Kong with her mother from Hunan at the age of eight to reunite with her father. Everything in the city is dazzling and new to her. However, the family faces poverty and language barriers. Worse yet, her father, who is a drug addict, is temperamental and is often sent to prison, causing him to disappear from the family for long periods of time. This certainly is not the dream home Yuan has been looking forward to. All she wants is her younger sister to be reunited with them as soon as possible. Out of fear, the sisters try to please their father in their early years, but as soon as they reach adolescence, they start to resist and escape from him. However, even after they grow up and move away from him, Yuan realises that all the people she loves and treasures turn out to resemble her father in her childhood memories.
Kwan believes that she is unique. Enclosed in solitude within her own literary world and deprived of affections from her family, she longs for love in whatever form it takes - no matter how distorted. She considers the detention class with Mr Cheung a shelter from the world, until it is shattered together with all her hopes. She finally comes to the realisation that it is the world that goes against her. There is no hiding place for her no matter how hard she struggles……
