The story starts out rather slowly. A young orphan is getting beat up and chased around by various thugs, and there are several slapstick type action sequences that mercifully don't last too long. We learn the lad is in love with the daughter of a kung fu master, and the old man obviously does not approve of this liaison. This young girl and a wood carving "uncle" who has adopted him are the lad's only friends.

The old master vows to string up the orphan to punish him, but a mysterious stranger named Ling Chu-fei (played by John Liu) suddenly intervenes and saves the boy's life.

The lad takes a liking to Ling, and the latter agrees to accept him as a disciple. Ling is an undercover police officer in town to find an ex-Shaolin monk who was expelled from the temple for his wickedness. This former monk subsequently became a bandit and committed various crimes, so Ling has spent the better part of 5 years tracking him down.

However, in order to avoid letting his quarry escaping, he does not reveal his true identity or purpose to anyone except the young orphan, and Ling pretends to be just a rich wanderer with a fondness for a local prostitute.

Alas, in trying to help Ling, the young man makes various inquiries about a former monk in a rather careless fashion, and this alerts the villain that the heat is on, as several murders are suddenly committed by him as he tries unsuccessfully to frame Ling, and later another man. By the this point of the movie, I was able to correctly guess who the bad guy most likely was, but that didn't detract from the ending and I won't reveal it here.

As usual in a martial arts movie, it all comes down to an action packed showdown, and this one doesn't disappoint as once again, John Liu shows off his amazing kicking prowess, although he gets some much needed help from his young disciple.