Sydney, Australia, the present day. Chen Ding, a PhD student in physics at Sydney university, is unceremoniously dumped by his girlfriend of five years, Zhou Ying who's studying in Cairns, in the northeast of the country. Chen Ding decides he must get to Cairns as soon as possible, and ends up being driven there by headstrong Australian-born Chinese Victoria Wong in her jeep. She's going to Cairns to audition for a job as a photographer for National Geographic.