In 1979, the Singapore government launched the Speak Mandarin Campaign to encourage Chinese Singaporeans to speak and teach their children Mandarin instead of dialect. The film explores bilingual policies implemented by the Singapore government to pragmatically establish and strengthen socio-economic ties with China and to maintain their economic competitive edge in the region.

The film also considers the effects of these policies on the individual and family and the loss encountered by systematically discouraging the use of dialects within homes. It features the relationship between a grandmother and her granddaughter and the learning and passing down of the traditional dish, Hainanese Chicken Rice.