Introduction

In the late 1980s, Hanyun, a high school teacher who has concealed his homosexuality, is fired by the school when he loses control of himself and confesses his feelings for a student. At that time people have very little understanding of homosexuality and regard it scandalous, and therefore Hanyun leaves Taiwan and goes into self-imposed exile in New York. There he lives incognito and indulges himself in his sexual desire. As a result, he contracts AIDS, a plague that blights the gay community around the 1990s. When Hanyun is sent to the Shanti House, a hospice for AIDS patients, he meets Danny, a seriously ill young man. While looking after Danny on his deathbed, Hanyun finally gains the sense of belonging and peace in his rootless lonely life. Knowing that his days are numbered, Hanyun writes a letter to his only family Shaohua, telling her the secrets that have been long hidden deep in his heart.