A key to Zheng's plans for conquering China's disparate kingdoms and winning "the hearts and minds" of his subjects is the composition of a national anthem. For that he turns to his boyhood friend Gao Janli (Ge You), a master of the zither-like gu'qin (the music sounds like Ry Cooder's). To obtain Janli's services, however, Zheng must first conquer his friend's country, enslave his people, behead thousands, brand, torture, and imprison the stubborn musician, and finally blind him with horse piss (record companies take note).

Complicating matters is Zheng's flighty, paralyzed daughter Yueyang (Xu Qing), who takes a shine to Janli when he rapes her and restores her ability to walk. That doesn't sit well with Yueyang's fiancé, the son of Zheng's chief general, or her retinue of eunuchs, and it sets up a climax as gruesome as that of Titus Andronicus. Reminiscent of Kurosawa's Kagemusha in its dynamism and audacious imagery, Shadow may not say much about the nature of art, loyalty, power, and harmony, but its jarring dissonances and dark mirth ring true.