Simon (Mitchell Lichtenstein) and Wei-Tung Gao (Winston Chao) are a gay couple living together in Manhattan. Wei-Tung is in his late 20s, so his Taiwanese parents are eager to see him get married and have children. The first part of the film is madcap comedy. When Wei-Tung's parents hire a dating service he and Simon stall for time by creating impossible demands. Chinese opera singers are always men, so they demand an opera singer and add that she must be very tall, must have two Ph.D.'s and should speak five languages. The service actually locates a 5'9" Chinese woman who sings Western opera, speaks five languages and has a Ph.D. She is very understanding when Wei-Tung explains his dilemma. To defer the suspicions of Wei-Tung's parents, Simon suggests a marriage of convenience between Wei-Tung and Wei-Wei (May Chin), their tenant in need of a green card. Wei-Tung will marry the mainland Chinese woman, but the plan backfires when his parents arrive in the United States to plan his wedding banquet. They insist on an elaborate cross-cultural banquet that will cost $30,000 US. After the banquet, Wei-Wei seduces the drunken Wei-tung, and becomes pregnant. Simon becomes upset when he finds out, and his relationship with Wei-Tung begins to deteriorate.
Wei-Tung tells his mother (Ah Leh Gua) the truth. She is shocked and insists that he not tell his father, who is recovering from a stroke. However, the perceptive father knows more than he is letting on and secretly tells Simon that he knows about their relationship. He accepts Simon as his son as well. Simon receives the Hongbao from Wei-Tung's father, a symbolic admission of their relationship, but Mr. Gao (Sihung Lung) makes him promise not to tell anyone. Without everyone trying to lie to him, he says, he would never have had a grandchild. Wei-Wei makes an appointment to have an abortion, then decides to keep the baby. She asks Simon to stay together with Wei-Tung and be the baby's other father. In the final scene, Wei-Tung's parents prepare to fly home. Mrs. Gao has forged an emotional bond with daughter-in-law Wei-Wei, and Mr. Gao warmly shakes Simon's hand. They board the airplane, leaving the unconventional family to sort itself out.
This co-production between the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the United States was written by Neil Peng and Ang Lee, who also directed. Lee later made the gay "Brokeback Mountain", and makes a cameo appearance in this film as a wedding guest attending the banquet. The English titles are "Hsi Yen" and "The Wedding Banquet".
