On the eve of the 1937 Battle of Shanghai, Song Shiyu, an illegitimate son of the Song family, one of Shanghai’s four great clans, goes undercover in the city as a lieutenant colonel in the Military Statistics Bureau. To the world, he is a dissolute playboy. In truth, he is an underground Communist Party member. After reuniting with Shen Yao, a Communist agent, the two embark on a double-edged espionage mission: they must steal the Kuomintang’s most sensitive intelligence while preventing Song’s family from trading arms with Japan. Amid suspicion within the Military Statistics Bureau, infighting within the family, and pursuit by the Japanese army, they use the code names “Spring Silkworm” and “Awakening of Insects,” passing messages through Kunqu opera lyrics as they compose a tragic epic of faith and love on the blood-soaked streets of Shanghai.
