On Happiness Road

Hsiao-Chi, 36 and glamorous, returns from America to Happiness Road where she grew up. The old houses have deteriorated while nearby, grand new mansions have been built. Her former neighbors witness her glorious return. But what they don't know is that the girl who carried an innocent smile now hides a failure she cannot reveal. Walking along Happiness Road, Hsiao-Chi remembers her childhood and tries to understand how she became who she is now. Hsiao-Chi was a daydreamer but at school, she gradually realized that the textbooks told mostly lies. With illusions shattered, she started to grow up. In the midst of the changes overtaking Taiwan, her perspective gradually changed. At the time, though, it didn't seem to have too much to do with her. She only wished to leave her parents, Happiness Road, and Taiwan one day. Eventually settling in the US she had longed for, she found that she wasn't happy in the way she had always imagined. So returning, Hsiao-Chi realizes that the success and happiness she had been pursuing was only to fulfill her parent’s expectations; that she should have let go those obsessions long ago. She decides to admit her failure to her parents.