THE JADE TIGER, a bloody and expansive martial arts epic, follows the self-destructive standoff between the Zhao and Tang clans in ancient China. It opens at the wedding of Zhao Wuji (Ti Lung), when a traitorous assassin working for the Tang clan beheads his father at the Zhao's Dafeng Hall. Wuji seeks revenge, but is poisoned by a member of the rival clan. He is saved by another swordsman and a mysterious brother and sister who live in an ethereal realm of peace and harmony called the Hate Free Hall. He is invited to stay in their world but Wuji's thirst for vengeance is too powerful. Going undercover he gains access to the Tang's base, but his plans are led astray when he woos and prepares to wed a member of the rival clan. Meanwhile an army of Zhao warriors executes an attack on the Tang headquarters in hopes of destroying their poison factory. In the climatic battle Wuji is torn between his devotions to both factions (and his two fiancées), who frequently turn on one another anyway. In the end Wuji is left wondering whether such mindless violence is worth it and if he should have stayed at the Hate Free Hall when he had his chance. The story is an adaptation of a book by popular swordsplay novelist Ku Lung.