Plain Jane to the Rescue 1982

Lam Ah Chun, Josephine Siao Fong-Fong, finds herself after a string of layoffs, drifting back into the orbit of Zada Electronic Industries Ltd., part of the powerful Zada Group. Her fortunes shift when she is hired by Mr Sha, [Charlie Cho Cha-Lee], a mogul who literally wields 40% of Hong Kong’s finances, to teach his father manners. The arrangement sets off a chain of tense maneuvers: at the father’s birthday party, Mr Sha tricks him into signing his will and goads him to blow out a very long row of candles on a cake, hoping the exhausting gesture will seal his fate. The old man, upset by the Zada Group’s aggressive demolitions of homes and businesses for new developments, threatens to revoke his will, and in response Mr Sha orders him locked up.

Tang Yan Fat, [Kan Yee-Ching], publicly declares his proposal to Lam Ah Chun in a restaurant in front of her parents, presenting a shocking image: an animal heart wrapped in a ribbon as a symbol of commitment. Lam Ah Chun laughs, while other guests recoil in disgust. In a bold show of force, thugs from the Zada Group descend on the restaurant and seize control of the scene. Lam Ah Chun then seeks legal help, visiting a lawyer who reveals that Mr Sha’s father controls a vast share of the group and can revoke the will by signing the pages of a particular form. The plan becomes a tense cat-and-mouse operation as Lam Ah Chun and the lawyer smuggle a fax machine into Mr Sha’s father’s room in Zada Hospital; yet Mr Sha’s men block the final page from being signed, and the father is effectively imprisoned in a room at his own house.

Meanwhile, Fang—the indomitable voice of protest—delivers a passionate speech against greedy landlords and the demolitions driving the city’s changes, challenging the Zada Group’s tactics and standing up to its thugs when they move to quell the dissent. When police arrive to arrest Fang for an allegedly illegal protest, Lam Ah Chun and the others all claim to be Fang, turning a single voice into a chorus of defiance. The tension escalates as a tunnel crash traps drivers in a pile-up, and an arsonist named Fire, [Mark Cheung Lui], pours oil through the tunnel and taunts the authorities by asking for the public’s input on the demands. Fire’s request allows the other drivers to present their own grievances, transforming the crisis into a platform for collective voice.

As the crowd’s demands grow, the city’s mood shifts toward a celebration—young fans call for a concert by Roman Tam, [Roman Tam], whose name becomes a beacon of cultural resistance amid the corporate pressure. Lam Ah Chun, driven by the hope of justice and a personal appeal to see Mr Sha’s father, pushes forward. The tale converges toward a dramatic conclusion when Mr Sha’s father manages a perilous escape from his confinement at home and is taken by the police to the tunnel, where he finally signs the final page of the form revoking his earlier will. In the end, the film threads together personal hardship, corporate power, grassroots protest, and a race against time inside a claustrophobic tunnel, leaving Lam Ah Chun and her allies to navigate the consequences of a business empire’s reach and the stubborn courage of ordinary people.

-italicized notes on tone and themes-This reimagined narrative preserves the film’s core tensions between personal integrity, corporate dominance, and communal resistance, while highlighting the film’s satirical edge toward greed and the triumph of collective action.