Synopsis

It is a story about a Russian restaurant, Cafe Astoria, first opens in Shanghai in 1935 by a Russian Jewish exile and a Chinese lawyer in Jaffe Road French Concession, for their common love of Jazz. Together the owners and their guests witness the outbreak of World War II, the birth of the new China, the withdrawal of the KMT to Taiwan and the massive exodus of millions of Shanghai's foreign and Chinese residents first to Hong Kong and finally to Taipei. In each of these cities a new Cafe Astoria opens as the original owners are forced to move, again and again, thrown from place to place by wars and crises. The world around them is in turmoil, but inside Cafe Astoria it's always warm, full of charming people and their stories.

一個源自中國浙江的孫氏家族與流亡至中國的俄籍猶太人艾思納 (Peter Elsner)﹐在戰火邊緣因緣際會，1935年在上海法租界霞飛路共同開設明星咖啡館Cafe Astoria，原本只是一家製作俄羅斯點心和烹調家常菜的小館﹐卻因為沙龍情調吸引了文人雅士﹐演變成名流紳士流連忘返之地，負責經營的孫家次男孫懷群與艾思納個性相投，尤其對於爵士音樂的熱愛﹐結為莫逆，在戰爭威脅之下﹐提供異鄉人相互慰藉之地。隨著戰火蔓延與政局動盪﹐他們的命運與明星融合﹐共同見證近代華人歷經的上海、香港和台北的三次遷徙，明星咖啡館的招牌亦先後在這三座城市閃耀﹐異鄉光景更見濃郁﹐時代洪流下的情愛情誼﹐無論圓滿抑或遺憾﹐在在平添這家傳奇咖啡館的風采。