The despondent Chow Mo Wan (Tony Leung) returns to Hong Kong to write for a newspaper column. Over time, he runs into his old friend from Singapore, Lulu (Carine Lau), the daughter of a club owner (Fay Wong), and the social butterfly Ms. Bai (Zhang Zi-yi). Chow is working on his serial novel "2046" for the paper – a story about a train headed to 2046 and its the passengers are all going there to find their lost memories.