A young magistrate escorting prisoners is kidnapped by Jade-Faced Tiger whose gang of unsavory thugs is holed up in a temple, under the protection of a mysterious abbot. A handsome warrior, Golden Swallow, effortlessly wards off an attack by the gangsters at a country inn, after which a drunken beggar stumbles into the scene, asking for a drink. Thus the stage is set for a typically dazzling and elegant King Hu film in which nothing is what it seems, including Golden Swallow. Played by Zheng Peipei, one of the most distinguished martial arts actresses of her time, the warrior is actually the governor's daughter, on a mission to rescue her kidnapped brother. Critic Stephen Teo has convincingly argued that Come Drink with Me is a pivotal transitional film from the fantasy-driven martial arts films common in the 1960s towards the more realistic, harder-edged films to come.