The Nail in the Eye explores the catastrophic results engendered by dishonesty in love. The setting is China in the 1920s during Chiang Kai-shek's rise to power; the Green Gang godfathers rule the city while the expatriate class is having a ball. Dark clouds are gathering on the Chinese political front when the wealthy American Chinese scholar, Professor Charles Gordon, and Lili, his glamorous young Parisian wife, land in Shanghai. As the months unravel unforeseen events tear off their masks; revealed are their true personalities and sexual preferences.