Wang Qiyao is a young girl infatuated with the glitz and glamour of 1940s Hollywood. After being discovered by an amateur photographer, Wang Qiyao competes in the Miss Shanghai beauty pageant of 1946 and wins the title of second runner-up. This fleeting moment of stardom becomes the pinnacle of Wang Qiyao's life.
"The Song of Everlasting Sorrow" follows the adventures of Wang Qiyao, a girl born of the crowded, labyrinthine alleys of Shanghai's working-class neighborhoods. Infatuated with the glitz and glamour of 1940s Hollywood, Wang Qiyao seeks fame in the Miss Shanghai beauty pageant, and this fleeting moment of stardom becomes the pinnacle of her life. After the Communist victory, Wang Qiyao continues to indulge in the decadent pleasures of the Shanghai bourgeoisie, secretly playing mahjong during the antirightist campaign and exchanging lovers on the eve of the Cultural Revolution. She reemerges in the 1980s as a purveyor of "old Shanghai," only to become embroiled in a tragedy that echoes the Hollywood noirs of her youth.
