In this martial arts adventure set in the Ming Dynasty, a young swordsman named Fox (Sam Hui) gets involved in a quest for a scroll that contains invaluable secrets of swordsmanship. Many warring factions are after the scroll, and they are more than willing to kill Fox to get it. A conflict with the film's producer, Tsui Hark, caused the director King Hu to quit the film during production, and Hark and some other directors took over. However, the subsequent inconsistencies do not detract from the film's spectacular swordfights.