高剔红（陆小芬 饰）十二岁便失去了父母，十六岁弟弟亦死于意外，悲惨的童年经历让高剔红早早就看透了世间的人情冷暖世态炎凉，她明白，在这个世界上，她能够依靠的，只有自己。 　　离开了深爱的渔夫秦江海（任达华 饰），高剔红卯足了劲，想方设法终于嫁入豪门，然而，厄运紧跟其后，几年之后，高剔红带着年仅五岁的儿子成为了寡妇。然而，命运并没有将高剔红打垮，她和天斗和地斗和人斗，终于成为了一家之主，可是，手中所掌握的金钱和权利无法填满她空虚的心灵，就在此时，家中一位长工的出现吸引了她的注意，因为这位长工有着和秦江海极为相似的容貌，令高剔红情不自禁。

剔红的命运似乎出生就注定了，一如她的断掌纹。十二岁父母双亡，十六岁时相依为命的弟弟也葬身鱼腹。那年，她决心改变自己的命运，发誓遗忘曾挨过的贫穷、无依，以及秦江海——那个第一次闯入她心底的年轻渔夫。她凭着一双出了名的绣花巧手以及一对硬绑出来的三寸金莲入嫁富豪之家。但是命运并未改变。她二十三岁守寡，那年儿子才五岁。三十岁那年，她终于击败所有蛮横的亲长，成为一家之主，在自己的王国里坐拥一切。但是她没有击败自己心中蛰伏的爱欲和对命运的怨嗟，那年她发现自己怀孕了，对方竟是贴身男仆，只因为他有一张和秦江海近似的脸孔，这是她第二次面临命运的挑战，不同的是，这一次她没有逃避，她强硬的面对，然后，她赢了。这个女人活了七十五岁，直到她死，她才知道这一生的孤单的命运似乎出生就注定了，一如她的断掌纹。

事發生於清末民初年間，劇情主要描述斷掌女人剔紅(葉全真飾)終其一生和她生命中四個男人(包括王識賢、劉至翰、陳冠霖、王燦)間的情感糾葛、愛恨情仇。

事發生於清末民初年間，劇情主要描述斷掌女人剔紅(葉全真飾)終其一生和她生命中四個男人(包括王識賢、劉至翰、陳冠霖、王燦)間的情感糾葛、愛恨情仇。

1998年春节，吴桂花夫妇被丁家兄弟寻仇，丈夫被砍伤身亡，凶手逃窜失踪，桂花从此走上长达17年的追凶与申冤之路，经过多年不断找寻线索后，终将凶手逐个找出并捕获。在追凶的过程中，桂花也逐渐完成自我的蜕变。

1998年春节，吴桂花夫妇被丁家兄弟寻仇，丈夫被砍伤身亡，凶手逃窜失踪，桂花从此走上长达17年的追凶与申冤之路，经过多年不断找寻线索后，终将凶手逐个找出并捕获。在追凶的过程中，桂花也逐渐完成自我的蜕变。

Set against the backdrop of an imperial victory in the civil war leading up to the Meiji Restoration, Fallen Blossoms tells the story of the sorrows of women in a geisha house in Kyoto by recounting the relationships of its inhabitants. 　　Alexander Jacoby & Johan Nordström wrote: 　　Ishida’s original and brilliant film tells history as ‘her story’. Against the backdrop of a victory for the imperial forces in the civil war leading up to the Meiji Restoration, Ishida recounts the relationships among the inhabitants of a Kyoto geisha house, producing what has been described by Noël Burch as “one of the most remarkable community portraits ever filmed”. The film is set completely inside the house, with only female characters ever seen on screen. 　　For Burch, “the exclusion from the scene of men, patrons or soldiers, is a meaningful corollary of the exclusion of Japanese women from the history of the country”. Ishida narrates his story using an imaginative cinematic style in which shots are almost never repeated. The narrative, Burch notes, evokes Chekhov, but he judges its “combination of a restricted, unified setting and continual renewal of the imagery” to be unparalleled in conventional narrative cinema.

A hardened criminal fresh out of the joint takes a job as a handyman in a dilapidated house; but the twisted horrors he finds inside are enough to send anyone running. So why does he stay? And why are so many people drawn to Penance Lane?

A hardened criminal fresh out of the joint takes a job as a handyman in a dilapidated house; but the twisted horrors he finds inside are enough to send anyone running. So why does he stay? And why are so many people drawn to Penance Lane?