This is a story about family, about love. It takes place in Singapore, but the modern-day friendships and conflicts reflected in it are universal. Fan Lun-tai was born in the wee hours of February 14th, given a name that just happens to sound like "valentine". The young Valentine and his little brother Leonardo are exact opposites, he, talkative and assertive, and Leonardo, reticent and shy. Yet Valentine is also very sensitive, longing for a love as strong as that between his mother and father. He has a crush on one of his classmates, the pigeon-toed and fiercely independent Bo Hsueh -but the tender- hearted little girl is moved by the attentiveness of her swimming teacher, a college student named Hsiao-hu. It is the day of Valentine's elementary school graduation, and Mrs. Fan is rushing to attend the ceremony with Leonardo, when she is fatally hit by a delivery truck from their own printing factory. From that day on, Valentine sinks into a self-punishing guilt over his mother's death, and Leonardo vents his anger at the world by hanging out with hooligans. Their father ultimately proves unable to bear the loss and drowns himself in the ocean, and the young brothers are left in the custody of an aunt. The story picks up again ten years later, when the now reclusive Valentine, troublemaker Leonardo, naive Bo Hsueh, and cocky Hsiao-hu cross paths once more.