City of Sadness revolves around the story of the Lin family, from the mining town of Chiufen in Taipei County. Through the fates of the members of the Lin family, it describes the political, economic, and social conditions in Taiwan when the government of the Republic of China first arrived, with a special focus on the lead-in to and effects of the February 28 incident in 1947.
《悲情城市》以台灣九份礦區林家的家族故事為主軸，透過林家家族成員的命運，描述國民政府撤守來台，當時台灣的政經社會圖像，特別集中在一九四七年「二二八事件」的前因與影響上。