[6] Simon (Billy Harvey) and Darin (Jeff Palmiotti) are two laid-back American ex-patriates who teach kindergarten and run a magazine called The Oyster in Taiwan in 2000.

Nikita (Leonora Moore), a sympathetic clerk, helps them steal Jed's body and joins them on their road trip across Taiwan looking for the ideal burial site.

Mark Jarrett had lived in Taichung, Taiwan, from 1999 to 2001,[6] and set his story to take place six months after the region's September 21, 1999 921 earthquake.

"[1] In referring to the opening showing the leads drinking heavily with a group of other ex-pats, they wrote "the film packs more soul than the hedonism of its early scenes suggests".

[1] They spoke toward the scenes where Simon, Darin, and Nikita steal Jed's body from the morgue, and offered that it was "one of the strangest and most invigorating heists in ages, a cross between an old Laurel and Hardy routine and the scrappy anarchy of early Wes Anderson.

"[1] They praised the cinematographer's camerawork, writing "the sheer beauty of [Mike] Simpson's frames often stands in direct contrast with the delirious indulgence on display,"[1] They offered that while the film may get more play through festival screenings than theatrical release, it was a "striking feature".

[3] They expanded that much of the film "is playful (and at times hilarious)," but that "the beautiful photography often makes for a melancholy backdrop, as the stunning countryside constantly reminds us that these characters are strangers in a strange land, made all the more small by the ancient otherworldliness that surrounds them on all sides.

He offered that Billy Harvey's Simon was best, and that Leonora Moore did "a great job as Nikita, a smart, savvy woman who is a sober, grounding influence on her intemperate traveling companions."