A young hopeful girl named Ye Xian (An Nguyen) travels alone to New York City to try to make some money for her ailing father back home in China. She falls into the clutches of Mrs. Su (Tsai Chin), who runs a massage parlor in the heart of Chinatown. But Ye Xian refuses to do the requisite sex work for the clients, so she is made into a menial servant who must do all the laundry, cleaning, shopping and cooking – a Cinderella. However, she finds solace in a magical fish given to her by the strange hunchback Auntie Yaga (Randall Duk Kim) and in her fleeting, tender encounters with Johnny (Ken Leung), a local jazz musician. With a crescendo that takes place at the height of the Chinese New Year – complete with lion dancers, firecrackers, and an enormous banquet in a palatial Chinatown restaurant – YEAR OF THE FISH spins the conventions of the traditional fairy tale in ways that are consistently surprising and engaging.