Set against the backdrop of massive economic growth in the 1990s, the story follows A Bao, a self-made millionaire and his journey from being a young opportunist with a troubled past to accumulating dazzling wealth in the city of Shanghai. It also follows his entanglement with four women who represent the pursuits of his life: adventure, honour, love and innocence.
Mentored by the aging financial maestro Uncle Ye, the ambitious Ah Bao transforms himself into Mr. Bao, a rich, influential stock trader. Even after he’s the victim of a hit-and-run attack that nearly kills him, life goes on: on the glamorous Huanghe Road, a new luxury restaurant called the Grand Lisbon opens, run by a beautiful and mysterious owner named Li Li.
Mr. Bao finds himself entangled in a stock-market fiasco that cripples many small-time traders and damages his reputation. His friends rally round him at Tokyo Nights, a small, unglamorous restaurant that Mr. Bao co-owns with the feisty Ling Zi, with whom he has an intimate history.
A provincial factory manager, Mr. Fan, wants to do business with Mr. Bao, but—dazzled by Li Li and the riches he sees at the Grand Lisbon—he tries to sweeten the deal. Mr. Bao plays hardball.
A goofy, mink-clad interloper named Mr. Wei tries to steal Mr. Fan’s business, but Mr. Bao is helped by Miss Wang, his adoring contact at the Foreign Trade Office whom many people think is his girlfriend.
Mr. Bao and Mr. Fan sign a contract to distribute made-in-China San Yang shirts. This groundbreaking deal leads to Mr. Bao giving Miss Wang a thank-you gift that will come back to haunt them both.
Li Li gives an enigmatic gift to Mr. Bao, who warns her that the Grand Lisbon won’t last more than three months. Thanks to a brilliant marketing move by Mr. Bao, San Yang shirts become a smash hit at the hottest department store on Shanghai’s biggest shopping street. Over at Tokyo Nights, the opportunistic Ling Zi tries to find a way to profit from those shirts, causing problems for Mr. Bao.
Li Li’s rivals on Huanghe Road’s restaurant row begin sabotaging her business. Mr. Bao has his own problems: thuggish counterfeiters have begun cranking out knockoffs of San Yang shirts, threatening to destroy sales just as they’re beginning.
In a bold move, Mr. Bao drives into the industrial boondocks to cut a deal with the knockoff-selling gangsters. Fearing for his safety, Miss Wang follows him there, risking her life to make sure he’s not in danger. Her bravery gets Mr. Bao remembering how they first met at the Foreign Trade Office.
Li Li remains under attack by a group of restaurant madames led by the hotheaded Mei Lin, who sponsors a coup in the Grand Lisbon’s kitchen. Li Li goes to Tokyo Nights for help from Mr. Bao, a move that earns her Ling Zi’s jealousy.
With the help of Uncle Ye, Mr. Bao thwarts the attack on the Grand Lisbon so successfully that the restaurant sets Huanghe Road abuzz with talk of its famous new dishes. Mr. Bao is now at his triumphant peak. What could possibly go wrong?
As Mr. Bao’s relationship with Li Li deepens, his friend Tao Tao finds himself knee-deep in romantic calamity.
Over at the Foreign Trade Office, Miss Wang’s success has spawned envy and led a shifty colleague to smear her, twisting a well-intentioned gift from Mr. Bao into evidence of accused bribery.
Miss Wang’s fall has repercussions at Tokyo Nights, where Ling Zi’s role in what happened breeds discord in the place that Mr. Bao thinks of as his refuge. The funny, friendly world of Tokyo Nights explodes in anger and recriminations that Mr. Bao can’t fix.
Mr. Bao’s romantic past and present collide. While Miss Wang gets bullied at the factory where she’s been reassigned and Ling Zi remains missing, Mr. Bao flashes back to his passion for Xuezhi, a beautiful ticket-taker on a local bus, whose rejection of him turned him into the man he is today.
When the leadership changes at the department store he’s been supplying with product, Mr. Bao must seek out new allies—and sources of profit.
Ling Zi remains absent, prompting Mr. Bao to reminisce about when he first met her in Tokyo four years earlier. In Ling Zi’s absence, her friends haplessly try to keep Tokyo Nights going. The past still heavy upon him, Mr. Bao goes to do business in Hong Kong. There he meets Xuezhi, the woman who broke his heart, and is surprised by what he discovers.
The two reliable women in Mr. Bao’s life begin distancing themselves from him. Ling Zi returns to Shanghai full of resolve and dissolves her business partnership with him. Mr. Bao oversteps by providing Miss Wang with unwanted help upon her return to Huanghe Road.
The distancing continues. Planning to overhaul Tokyo Nights, Ling Zi goes to the Grand Lisbon for research. Miss Wang decides to open her own business—with no help from Mr. Bao. She throws a disastrous launch party that lands her an unexpected partner, the goofy Mr. Wei. Like a gunslinging outlaw, Mr. Qiang arrives in Shanghai from Shenzhen, with sights set on the local stock market—and Mr. Bao.
As Ling Zi renovates Tokyo Nights, she remembers how she and Mr. Bao built the restaurant together. Miss Wang and Mr. Wei prepare for their company’s opening banquet. Mr. Bao makes mistakes, personal and financial.
Amid a flurry of corporate intrigue, Mr. Bao starts ramping up his plans to stop the unethical Qiang from becoming the big dog in town. Qiang has a personal score to settle: he was once in love with Ling Zi before she left Tokyo to work with Mr. Bao.
When Qiang attempts a hostile takeover of a Shanghainese company, Mr. Bao forms a pact with Li Li—money for information. Mr. Bao and Li Li’s employees profit off of Qiang’s bid, but collateral damage forces the police to descend on Qiang and the Grand Lisbon.
Ling Zi reopens Tokyo Nights as a Shanghainese omakase and wins immediate success. Over on Huanghe Road, the Grand Lisbon falls into chaos when Li Li is held for questioning by the police. Again, Mr. Bao helps save the day.
Qiang and Bao have dinner at the Grand Lisbon and wind up bigger enemies than before. Each backs a rival company that’s fighting for the only government-approved slot to launch an IPO.
Across town, Miss Wang begins competing with Mr. Bao to win a huge order for jeans with Walmart. While Uncle Ye and Miss Wang jockey to get the Walmart order, Mr. Bao and Qiang begin a stock-market battle that leads to a crash.
Things get deadlier. After stock-market losses, Mei Lin’s debt-ridden husband dies in a fall. Li Li mortgages the Grand Lisbon to fund Mr. Bao. Miss Wang begins looking for garment factories for the Walmart deal, while Uncle Ye works to block her. As Li Li strikes deals to keep Mr. Bao afloat, a powerful businesswoman from Taiwan gets involved.
Miss Wang heads south to find a factory that will make jeans cheaply enough to win the order. Against his own interests, Mr. Bao secretly helps her.
Miss Wang scores her first big success, outwitting everyone to win the Walmart contract. Learning of his first love’s death, Mr. Bao looks for company. With Ling Zi and Miss Wang out of his life, he and Li Li share a New Year’s Eve dinner where they exchange memories.
Uncle Ye and Mr. Bao come to an understanding. The latter steels himself for another skirmish with Qiang, who is working ruthlessly to cut off Mr. Bao’s capital sources.
The final showdown: While Mr. Bao desperately seeks a way to escape intact from the stock market, his estranged friends Tao Tao and Ling Zi make peace without him. Qiang keeps pushing, and Mr. Bao throws a Hail Mary pass that is answered—in a way.
The world we’ve been watching has been totally changed since Episode 1. The suddenly successful Miss Wang returns to Shanghai to find that Mr. Bao has moved out of his fancy hotel suite, Li Li has settled her debts and left town, and Ling Zi is moving to Hong Kong to open a second restaurant. The three women most important to Mr. Bao are moving on. As for him, the early gold-rush days are over, and a new era is beginning.
