The emotional pull of love and the strange symmetry between two people separated by a continent provide the backdrop for this subtly comic tale from director Tsai Ming-liang. Hsiao-kang (Lee Kang-sheng) is a young man who sells watches in the streets; his father recently died, which has his mother (Lu Yi-ching) wondering about the possibilities of reincarnation and Hsiao-kang puzzled about life in general. One day, Hsiao-kang is plying his trade when he's approached by an attractive young woman, Shiang-chyi (Chen Shiang-chyi), who tells him she's going to be taking a trip to Paris. Hsiao-kang ends up selling her his own watch, which has two faces in order to tell time in two zones at once; as the days go on, he finds that he can't stop thinking about Shiang-chyi, and as he ponders what might have been (or what could be) between them, he starts changing every clock he sees to Paris time. Jean-Pierre Leaud has a brief cameo as himself; Shiang-chyi bumps into him shortly after seeing Les 400 Coups. Ni Neibian Jidian was shown in competition at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival.