Her father, who brought her to Macau from mainland China, was an inveterate gambler who has since died, leaving her with a large pile of debts and a gambling habit of her own.

Daniel Luo (Wu Xiubo) is a real estate broker in Los Angeles who moved there with his parents from Beijing 20 years prior, although they subsequently divorced and both returned to China.

Daniel has since built an outwardly successful life for himself in California, selling properties to wealthy Chinese buyers, but his parents' divorce when he was young still affects him, and he refuses to get into any kind of close emotional relationship.

Unbeknown to either of them, the current proprietor of 84 Charing Cross Road, Mr Thomas, is an elderly gentleman who enjoys matchmaking and redirects the letters from Jiao and Daniel to each other.

Over the course of the next year, Daniel and Jiao begin a regular correspondence by sending letters to 84 Charing Cross Road, each believing the other to be a Chinese person living in London.

Realizing their growing feelings for each other, and desperately seeking news of what has happened to the other person, Daniel and Jiao travel separately to 84 Charing Cross Road, where they learn the truth about who has been forwarding their letters, and are also told about Mr Thomas's upcoming funeral.