Impudent nobleman Lung Shu-ai (Liu Yung) is desperate to best his rival Tan Fu (Chen Kuan-tai) in the annual lantern contest. Obsessed with winning he enlists master lantern maker Chao Chun-fang (Lo Lieh), a defeated opponent from the past with no idea of the revenge being planned. When the men’s sisters, courtesans and wives disappear, both nobles suspect the other though local authorities are baffled by a lack of evidence.