Willis works as a Generic Asian Man on the cop show Black and White, dreaming of a better role someday.

Old Mr. Fong slips in the communal shower and dies, his son arriving later to collect his meager belongings.

Willis acts as his father's interpreter on a Black and White shoot, watching his father silently accept the Old Asian Man role.

Willis lands a guest star role on Black and White, helping detectives investigate the death of an Asian man.

Willis uses impressive kung fu moves to save Detective Turner's life during a fight inside a gambling den.

Willis meets actress Karen Lee for the first time on set and is immediately drawn to her fluid, hard-to-pin identity.

Willis's character is shot and killed in the Black and White script, abruptly ending his guest star role.

Willis reconnects with Karen during his mandatory acting hiatus and the two begin dating seriously.

Karen announces she is pregnant, and she and Willis get married and move into an SRO apartment together.

Karen receives an offer to headline her own television show with a part for Willis, but Willis refuses to leave Chinatown.

Karen takes baby Phoebe and moves to the suburbs to pursue her career, effectively ending her marriage to Willis.

Willis finally achieves his lifelong dream by landing the recurring role of Kung Fu Guy on Black and White.

Five years into his Kung Fu Guy success, Willis recognizes the role still traps him and decides he needs his family.

Willis hotwires the detectives' car during a shoot and uses the scripted scene as his real escape from Chinatown.

Willis stands before the court and admits he is guilty of letting a role consume his identity and his real life.

Willis Wu lives in Los Angeles's Chinatown, working bit parts as a Generic Asian Man on the cop show Black and White while dreaming of the coveted Kung Fu Guy role. A guest star opportunity introduces him to Karen Lee, though his character is killed off and he endures a mandatory hiatus before resuming work. During that hiatus, Willis and Karen fall in love, marry, and build a life together until Karen receives her own show — an offer Willis refuses, choosing his dream role over his family. Karen takes their daughter Phoebe to the suburbs, and Willis eventually lands Kung Fu Guy, only to find the success hollow and himself still trapped. He flees Chinatown by stealing the detectives' car and drives to his family, setting in motion a surreal courtroom reckoning with his own identity. Only by publicly admitting his guilt — for letting a role define and consume his real life — can Willis begin to move beyond Interior Chinatown.

Willis Wu's rise, fall, and escape from the roles that define him.

Ming-Chen Wu witnesses his father's death at the hands of soldiers during Taiwan's period of martial law.

Ming-Chen arrives in Mississippi as a graduate student and witnesses racial violence against fellow foreign students.

Dorothy grows up as one of nine siblings in Taipei and immigrates to America to work as a nurses' assistant in Alabama.

Dorothy's sister charges her room and board and sends her away; Dorothy eventually drifts to Los Angeles's Chinatown.

Dorothy and Ming-Chen Wu meet on a Chinatown film set, fall in love, and eventually get married.

Willis's mother urges a young Willis never to aspire to be Kung Fu Guy, insisting he could be something more.

Ming-Chen Wu achieves the pinnacle role that all Asian actors covet, becoming the Kung Fu master known as Sifu.

Mr. Wu becomes so consumed by the Kung Fu Guy role that he grows cold and loses his connection to his family.

Willis's parents drift apart after years of estrangement and take separate apartments in the same SRO building.

Older Brother becomes a recurring character on Black and White, but the script unexpectedly cuts his role entirely.

After a shift at the Golden Palace, Willis's father takes the karaoke microphone and delivers a heartfelt rendition of 'Country Roads.'

Willis and Detective Turner nearly come to blows on set, arguing about which minority group has it harder in Hollywood.

Willis receives a director's promise that he will soon be promoted to the Kung Fu Guy role on Black and White.

Willis watches his aging father share a quiet, tender moment with young Phoebe at the Golden Palace.

Black and White finishes its location shoot at the Golden Palace, ending the show's long presence in Chinatown.

Before Willis's story begins, his parents' parallel immigrant journeys bring them separately to Los Angeles's Chinatown, where they meet, marry, and build a life defined by the roles Hollywood assigns them. His father rises to the peak role of Kung Fu Guy only to become consumed by it, losing his identity as a husband and father before declining into a generic Old Asian Man. Willis's mother, having warned her son not to follow the same path, watches her husband drift away as the couple quietly separates into neighboring apartments. Meanwhile, the neighborhood's star, Older Brother, hits his own glass ceiling when his recurring role on Black and White is unexpectedly cut. Scenes of community life — karaoke nights, on-set arguments, a director's hollow promises — fill out the world Willis inhabits and show the forces quietly pressuring him. By the story's end, with the show departing Chinatown and his father sharing a tender moment with young Phoebe, the community that shaped Willis begins to recede as he steps toward a different future.

The backstories, community moments, and supporting forces that shape Willis's world.

Willis trains in martial arts with his father as a boy, internalizing the belief that Kung Fu Guy is the highest aspiration.

Willis is killed off in the Black and White script and learns he must wait 45 days before the show can reinstate him.

Karen challenges Willis's self-pity during their first real conversations, pointing out that he has constructed his own limitations.

Willis narrates his father's backstory during the hiatus and begins to recognize the parallel trajectory of his own choices.

Willis watches his father's entire identity as Kung Fu Guy erased overnight, replaced by the role of anonymous fry cook.

Willis and Karen move into a shared eighth-floor SRO apartment together after their wedding.

Willis spends several days bonding with five-year-old Phoebe and notices she carries no self-consciousness about being Asian.

Detectives Green and Turner arrive at Karen's suburban home to question Willis about the stolen car.

Willis is put on trial in 'The Case of the Missing Asian,' where his fictional role and real identity crisis begin to merge.

Older Brother appears as Willis's surprise defense attorney, revealing he left Chinatown years ago to attend law school.

The prosecutor pivots mid-trial and declares that the real missing Asian in the case is Willis himself.

Detective Turner takes the stand and accuses Willis of self-pity, demanding he take responsibility for the categories he has accepted.

The jury returns a verdict finding Willis guilty not of theft, but of self-imprisonment.

A kung fu fight erupts in the courtroom, with Willis and Older Brother defending the gallery against attacking police.

Back at the Golden Palace, Willis tells Turner off-script that he can no longer keep doing this kind of work.

Willis's self-imposed limitations take root in childhood, shaped by his father's kung fu training and a dream he can't see past, before hardening during the years he works on Black and White. Being killed off in the script and forced into a hiatus gives Willis the distance to narrate his father's story and finally glimpse — but not yet fully accept — the trap closing around him. His romance with Karen, their marriage, and the domestic life they build together represent the closest Willis comes to escaping his roles, yet he still chooses Chinatown over his family when it matters most. After five years of hollow success, his flight to the suburbs and quiet days with Phoebe begin to crack open his perception of what is possible. The courtroom trial then serves as a full reckoning: Older Brother's revelation, Turner's accusation, a surreal jury verdict, and a courtroom brawl all converge until Willis finally articulates the truth — that Interior Chinatown was never just a place, but a prison he built inside himself.

The key decisions, confrontations, and realizations that force Willis to face his own complicity.