“LOVERS' ROCK” (Synopsis )

　　Strange rocks resembling women jut skyward from the beach of Shek O fishing harbour.

　　Called “ Lovers’ Rocks " by the villagers, these stony figures are believed to be transformations of girls and women keeping a permanent vigil on the shore for the home - coming of their husbands and lovers whose fishing boats have been lost in the stormy sea during typhoon seasons.

　　When the fishing junk “ King Fa " finally returns to harbour after being reported missing for two days, relatives and friends on shore heave a sigh of relief. Particularly glad is the mother of the junk master, So Ta-kuei, the only son of a fisherman father who was lost at sea ten years earlier.

　　Meanwhile, Chiu-tse, daughter of wealthy fishing magnate Lin King-shui, has returned home from the city. Chiu-tse and Ta-kuei have been childhood companions just as their fathers before them.

　　Ta-kuei's father however died in a storm. Chiu-tse's father escaped and has since become a rich man.

　　Chiu-tse is on her way home by bus when she meets a college student. Chin Yu who follows her down the bus to pick up some documents Chiu-tse has dropped while alighting.

　　Chin Yu does a good repair job on the run-down engine of Ta-kuei's junk.

　　Finding Chin Yu a valuable help, Ta-kuei urges him to stay in the fishing village. Chin's budding love for Chiu-tse makes Ta-kuei’s persuasion irresistible. Chin, therefore, settles down in the village as a fishing hand without knowing that Chiu-tse and Ta-kuei have already fallen in love.

　　From now on, Chin Yu frequently puts out to sea with Ta-kuei on fishing trips. Though Chin has plenty of opportunity to see Chiu-tse, she always behaves in a nonchalant manner, believing that Chin stays on in the little village in order to chase her like a scheming wolf.

　　In the meantime, village girl Tseng Ah-feng falls in love with Ta-kuei, making a triangle out of Ta-kuei's romantic entanglement.

　　Ta-kuei’s junk is fitted with an old, worn-out engine. In spite of repeated pleas by junk-owner Lin King-shui to change the engine, Ta-kuei has stuck to the old machine, saying that he has got used to its operation.

　　Once when Chin Yu returns to the city on an urgent matter, Ta-kuei, puts out to sea with Tseng Ah-pao and Hsu Te-tzu.

　　The junk runs into a typhoon. Only Tseng Ah-pao narrowly escapes death. Hsu Te-tze returns dead while Ta-kuei is missing.

　　Hearing the bad news on his return. Chin Yu hires a boat and puts out to sea to search for Ta-kuei for two whole days. It is only then that Chiu-tse discovers how kind-hearted Chin Yu is.

　　Chiu-tse gradually realises that her past affair with Ta-kuei is mere infatuation rather than true love and Chin Yu is the person she really loves. Now that Ta-kuei is missing, love blossoms between her and Chin Yu. Her father, Lin King-shui, however, objects to the affair. He will not allow her to marry Chin Yu unless Chin owns a fishing junk as a guarantee that he will maintain a certain standard of living.

　When Chin Yu finishes repairing a junk with the help of his friends in order to seek Chiu-tse's hand in marriage, Lin asks for an expensive gift in the form of wedding cakes.

　　Rescued by a merchant ship, Ta-kuei finally returns home. Disbelieving the malicious words of rascal Chien Tien-tsung, Ta-kuei, thinking that Chin Yu is forcibly taking Chiu-tse away from him, beats Chin up in revenge.

　　This awakens Chin Yu to the fact that Chiu-tse is Ta-kuei's sweetheart, making him determined to break his love affair with her. However, in a frank conversation with Ta-kuei, she confesses that what she feels for him is merely sisterly affection and she really loves Chin Yu from the bottom of her heart.

　　Heart-broken, Ta-kuei drowns his sorrow in drink day in and out. refusing to sail. While Tseng Ah-feng tries to console the crest-fallen man. Chin Yu, still treats him as his friend, encouraging him to keep his chin up and to resume his work.

　　As an outsider, Chin Yu is faced with the jealousy of local villain Chien Tien-tsung who not only prevents fishing men from working for Chin but gangs up with other ruffians to give Chin a sound beating.

　　Out of chivalry, Ta-kuei joins Chin Yu and together they defeat Chien and his gang in a vicious fight. Chin and Ta-kuei are reconciled. Thus Chin and Chiu-tse form one pair of lovers while Ta-kuei and Tseng Ah-feng, another.

　　To help Chin Yu, Ta-kuei decides to sail with him. As Fate would have it, the two good friends fail to return from this, their last fishing trip. Overnight, two more stony figures take shape on the beach of Shek O. They are believed to be transformations of Lin Chiu-tse and Tseng Ah-feng, the two girls who keep a perpetual seashore vigil to await the return of their lovers.