Butterfly Lovers is a Yue Opera film adaptation of a popular Chinese folktale. Unhappy with her confinement in the inner chambers, Zhu Yingtai attends an all-male school in disguise. There she meets Liang Shanbo and the two spend three years as "sworn brothers" and soul mates. But what will happen to the star-crossed lovers when they must part ways? The film was so successful in mainland China, Hong Kong, and South East Asia that it inspired an opera musical genre cycle, including the Shaw Brother’s famous remake, "Love Eterne" (1963).