Kway Fay was once a "Cockroach Child", a homeless scavenger on Hong Kong's waterfronts. Now grown, she lives in a squatter shack on the mountain slopes, and commutes daily to her job as a lowly office clerk. She survives by paying bribes if she has to, and keeping silent when abused. Her only ally is Grandmother's Ghost. Hong Kong is in turmoil, as this is the time just before the Handover, when the People's Republic of China will repossess the Crown Colony. Hongs and Triads, underworld organizations above the law, are concerned, for China's policy is to eliminate criminal cliques. The head of a Triad learns of the impoverished "no-family" girl who talks to ghosts, and wonders if she is a way out of his dilemma. Except that superstition is forbidden by the incoming regime. The girl might be the last chance for his Triad's survival.