Xiao-Kang shares a modern highrise apartment in Taipei with his parents, but the three of them rarely speak to each other and lead very separate lives. His mother, an elevator operator is having an unsatisfying affair. His father, now retired, visit’s the city’s gay saunas, while Xiao-Kang drifts through life without a job. Xiao – kang’s life suddenly changes when he develops a chronic neck ailment and his family seeks ways to cure it. The River is a metaphysical meditation on the anomie of modern urban life.