The story begins with footage of the National Day Parade, 2013. As the audience continues to enjoy the Parade, the urban Marina Bay landscape starts to fold and ravel, before the screen starts to move along the Singapore River, in the 1920s. Later, it dives in underwater where it shows a Tong Mao ship carrying passengers who migrate from mainland China to early Southeast Asia en route to Nanyang, later known as Singapore. Hong Shi (Desmond Tan) and his bride, Yazi (Jeanette Aw), set off for Nanyang from their homeland, China. Three years ago, he had gone to Nanyang without her. He returned to get her and they made the decision to settle in Nanyang, despite her father’s objections. On the same ship are two brothers, Zhang Tianpeng (Li Nanxing) and Zhang Tianying (Allen Chen). Tianpeng looks for help as Tianying is ill, but to no avail. The sailors want to throw Tianying overboard, as they are afraid his fever may be a symptom of a contagious disease. Tianpeng is grateful when Hong Shi and Yazi fork out all they have to bribe the sailors into letting Tianying remain. In gratitude, Tianpeng swears an oath of brotherhood to Shitou.
Shitou suspects that Tianying has contracted typhoid fever. Hence, Shitou brings Tianpeng to look for a rich merchant on board who has the cure. Much to Tianpeng’s astonishment, the rich merchant, Zhang Guangda (Terence Cao), becomes his sworn enemy after he refuses to give the medicine to him.
