冰（李嘉欣 饰）是一个上海著名企业家的女儿，为了寻找与自己的失散了十几年的亲生母亲，不惜瞒着父亲来到香港，并认识了“黑马王子”华弟（刘德华 饰），华弟好心收留了她，并与母亲一起帮她寻找生母。不料冰被人绑架，华弟协助警方救出了冰。冰受伤后，华弟更把自己的一部分肝脏捐给了冰。冰与父亲一起回到了上海，可是正在修养期间的她发现自己已经爱上了华弟。就在她生日那天，父亲说要介绍她认识一位“白马王子”……

上有天堂，下有苏杭，苏州旖旎风光之外，美食更成为吸引了海外宾朋的重要元素。话说在解放前，家住苏州的朱自冶（夏天 饰）可谓前无古人、后无来者的资深吃货。他家资丰厚，靠着祖上留下的房产衣食无忧。不过朱自冶对穿戴女色全然不感兴趣，平生所好唯有一吃。吃能吃出讲究，吃出门道，吃出名气，吃出传奇，苏州大街小巷所有的美食他都了然于胸。当年还是穷学生的高小庭（王诗槐 饰）结识了这个大吃货，巨大的落差让他对朱充满了憎恨与厌恶。祸国殃民的十年动乱终于以失败收场，百废待兴的当下，各行各业都呈现了前所未有的别样生机。高小庭作为苏州城松鹤楼饭庄经理，决心重新振兴传统文化。而朱自冶此时则以“美食家”的身份出现在他的面前……本片根据陆文夫的小说改编。

The boys are rehearsing a dance for their traditional initiation ceremony into adulthood; their teacher instructs them. A girl observes the scene but is not allowed to join in. When one of the boys chases after a strange bird, she follows him without knowing why. One day, the boy will no longer be able to see the bird either.

Semiotics of the Kitchen adopts the form of a parodic cooking demonstration in which, Rosler states, "An anti-Julia Child replaces the domesticated 'meaning' of tools with a lexicon of rage and frustration." In this performance-based work, a static camera is focused on a woman in a kitchen. On a counter before her are a variety of utensils, each of which she picks up, names and proceeds to demonstrate, but with gestures that depart from the normal uses of the tool. In an ironic grammatology of sound and gesture, the woman and her implements enter and transgress the familiar system of everyday kitchen meanings — the securely understood signs of domestic industry and food production erupt into anger and violence. In this alphabet of kitchen implements, states Rosler, "when the woman speaks, she names her own oppression."