As Jia-Chien is also the daughter who is most longing for independence, she is the first to make one of several "little announcements" that will take place during the family dinners. She informs her family that she has invested her entire life savings in a new appartment and will be moving out of their home. Directly after this announcement is made, Mr. Chu is called into work, the only place he can control and a salvage from the craziness that is about to encapsulate his family.
At this point we are introduced to Old Wen, a longtime friend and associate of Mr. Chu. After cooking an entire meal at the restaurant, Mr. Chu confesses that, since his sense of taste is getting worse, he now judges the quality of the dishes by Old Wen's face.
As Jia-Jien, the oldest daughter, is cleaning up the family dinner, her most common role in the household and in life, we are introduced to Jin-Rong, a close friend of the family, and her daughter Shan-Shan. The girls give some of their father's crab dumplings to Jin-Rong, reminding her that she is like a sister to them and like a daughter to Mr. Chu. This event is foreshadowing the realization of the family that Jin-Rong is Mr. Chu's lover and making it all the more incestuous and shocking when the news finally does come out at the end of the movie. Later, Mr. Chu juxtaposes the daughters" view by acting as a father to Shan-Shan and making her special lunches every day when he cannot find a way to relate to any of his own daughters. By doing so, Mr. Chu hints at the fact that Shan-Shan will soon be his step daughter. This point is further driven when the next scene is of Mr. Chu pulling a tangle of his daughters pantyhose out of the laundry, representing his own alienation and frustration towards them.
We soon find out Jia-Chien's true emotions that she's been keeping bottled up as she is cooking an elaborate meal for Raymond, her lover. She exposes how she had grown up admiring her father's skills in the kitchen and wanting to be just like him.
