Compulsive gambler and womanizer Percival Chen is the headmaster of the most respected English school in Saigon and fiercely proud of his Chinese heritage. Percival is accustomed to bribing government officials, but he faces the limits of his connections and wealth when his son gets into trouble with the Vietnamese authorities and Percival is forced to send him away. He finds solace in a new lover and the son they have together, but his newfound happiness is affected by the war that is encroaching into his world.