A talented but reckless young longshoreman Sun Chi-Chiang from the wrong side of the docks gets a chance to achieve showbiz stardom as the Krupka-esque 'Thunder King Drummer' with a tip from his mild mannered but equally talented composer brother Yi-Chuan, both to the dismay of his bitter working class mother who disapproves of her sons leading their lives as struggling musicians. Chi-Chiang gets his fifteen minutes of fame with the patronage of the beautiful well-heeled promoter Li-Chen seeking a replacement for the drummer and lover who was tempted away by a rival promoter. Chi-Chiang wins a televised jazz drumming contest against his rival and achieves new-found fame but not without further obstacles including his mother's disapproval, his rival's jealously, his rival's vamp girlfriend's advances and a chorus of shady denizens who inhabit the nightclub scene plotting for King Drummer's demise.