Sky Pirate Andy Renko is an extremely intelligent man with an incredible athletic ability. Unfortunately for him he also has ambiguous morals and a devil-may-care attitude that often leads him in trouble with the law. Renko is a mysterious high-rise cat burglar, dubbed the Sky Pirate by the media. He silently shadows the nighttime alleys, and fire escapes of Singapore, where he has settled after running afoul of the law in New York. Peering into scores of windows each night, he watches a massive cross section of cultural and generational dramas, comedies, and tragedies unfold in the apartments, hotels, and condos that he stalks. Not unlike flipping the channels on a big screen television, he often returns to the same fire escapes and ledges to follow the continuing saga of the city’s most interesting, dangerous, erotic and troubled characters. Like Jimmy Stewart’s character in the Hitchcock classic, Rear Window, only at a much faster pace and a much larger volume. One of the dangerous characters he spies on appears to be an assassin planning a hit. Renko keeps a curious and watchful eye on him. The elderly European ex-pat Graves is his only friend and confidant, and gives Renko the benefit of his years on the gray side of the law. He also uses the antique shop he runs to sell the goods Renko steals. Renko is relentlessly pursued by Inspector Sheng Liu, a ruthless detective hired by an international insurance company to catch the Sky Pirate and put an end to the massive insurance claims they are forced to pay, Even though Sheng doesn’t yet know who the Sky Pirate is, he is nevertheless closing in on Renko, vowing to send the Sky Pirate to prison for the rest of his life. While lifting jewelry from a dark apartment, Renko sees a photo of a beautiful woman who he finds irresistible intriguing. Returning to the same apartment the next night he sees that she is even more captivating in person, and falls in love with Baoqing Yu. Renko observes and studies her from afar, learning her most intimate secrets, and realizes to his horror that the brooch he stole from her was a priceless family heirloom. Renko tries to get the piece back from Graves, but he’s already sold it to a rich lady who left her card in case any more jewellery of that calibre came in. Renko takes the card and heads uptown. He usually stays to the safety of the lower to middle class areas but now finds himself in the world of watchful doormen, high-tech security systems and armed night watch guards. After some detective work and a daring and dangerous Mission: Impossible-style series of manoeuvres, he retrieves the jewellery. He approaches his new love in the all-night diner where she waitresses, and slowly begins to develop a relationship with her. She catches him attempting to replace the jewellery. He confesses and tells her everything in the hope that she’ll forgive him. No such luck, “If I ever see you again, I’m calling the police!” Finally captured by the ruthless and sadistic Inspector Sheng, Renko faces life imprisonment, but is rescued by Baoqing, who, in spite of her growing love, still wants nothing to do with him, but will help him this one time in thanks for returning her brooch. Renko is now free, but because his identity is now known, will always be on the run. Meanwhile the assassin Renko has been watching begins to carry out his plan. Renko sets out to foil the deadly plot, but realizes that the assassin’s target is Inspector Sheng, who is set to testify in a huge insurance fraud case. If Renko lets Sheng be killed, he will be free. Ultimately, Renko finds he cannot let Sheng die, regardless of the consequences to himself, and in a dramatic and dangerous manoeuvre, stops the assassin, Sheng is overwhelmed that the man he has hunted like a dog all of these years has saved his life at the jeopardy of his own. As the injured Renko is being loaded onto an ambulance, Sheng tells him he is resigning from the insurance company, and gives Renko all of the case files he has on the Sky Pirate, ensuring Renko’s freedom. At the diner, Baoqing watches the TV news interviews and listens as her customers and co-workers praise Renko. She rushes to the hospital, desperately in love, but unable to commit her life to a thief. Renko surprises her by revealing that his days as the Sky Pirate are over. Sheng’s insurance company has offered him Sheng’s old job. Now Renko will be paid to study people, and will be able to use all of his acrobatic skills on the right side of the law.