Stories of the Sea

Set in 20th-century Taiwan, an era when parenting was often strict and traditional, Guxin-a 26-year-old city woman-has just lost the mother she both loved and resisted. Newly unmoored and tasting a fragile sense of freedom, she sets out on her first journey to Pengzhen Island, a place she never had the chance to visit in her youth. Upon arriving on the island, she writes to her fiancé to call off the engagement her mother had arranged. Before long, she falls for Haiwang-a fisherman and photographer who embodies everything she has longed for: charm, gentleness, and a hint of mystery. Their love is swift and consuming. But after a month, reality intervenes. Guxin must leave the island, and Haiwang returns to the sea. They part with a steadfast hope of finding their way back to each other soon. That fragile hope shatters when news of a shipwreck flashes across the TV during a lunch with her colleagues. Guxin is devastated by Haiwang's death, yet life closes in again, and she returns to her routine, carrying her grief in silence, unseen by others. One morning, on her way to work, a taxi detours around a funeral procession and takes an unfamiliar route. Through the window, she catches sight of a man on the street-Haiwang. She bolts from the cab and runs after him, heart racing. How can this be? The first words she manages to ask, breathless and trembling, are: "Do you hate me?" And the stories begin.

Stories of the Sea is a 2027 drama movie. It runs 1h 30m.