But as the artist is returning from Japan with his fiancée, a young pianist, both - together with hundreds of others - lose their lives on board the passenger liner Takachiho Maru that is tragically torpedoed by the American submarine USS Kingfish (SS-234) in March, 1943, while on its way from Kobe to Keelung (Taiwan).

In flashbacks, we do not only see Huang in his Tokyo studio, or attending an exhibition of his works, or on the steamship mentioned, looking forward to an encounter with his father, mother, and elder brother.

An important strand of the narration is focused on the restoration of "lost" works created by the artist that were discovered recently - a difficult task that is carefully accomplished by a young, physically handicapped (or ill?)

As the Taiwanese critic Shen-chon Lai points out, "The film’s language that is artfully employed displays great similarities with the stream of consciousness technique of contemporary literature" and relies "on such artistic devices as 'point of view'".

"[2] The critic Lingzhen Wang observes that The Strait Story, just like Huang’s subsequent feature film Song of Chatian Mountain, "combine(s) historical materials, including those censored in the past, personal memories, and a distinctive documentary style.