| Director | Anthony Chen |
|---|---|
| Budget | SGD 700,000 |
| Box office | $54,071 |
In Singapore during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the Lim family welcomes their domestic helper Teresa (colloquially Terry). Terry is an overseas Filipino Worker who has come from Iloilo to support her infant son. The father, Teck, works in sales for a glass company; the pregnant mother, Hwee Leng, works as a secretary in a downsizing shipping company; and the ten-year-old son, Jiale, is a troubled delinquent. Jiale and Terry exhibit a troubled relationship at first. One day, Jiale climbs over the school fence at dismissal time just to avoid his maid, who comes every day to fetch him.
When Teck loses his sales job, he conceals it from his wife. He accepts a temporary job as a security guard monitoring an egg farm. As he continues to lose money in the stock market, he acknowledges their losses to his wife, who lambastes him. Terry also finds a side job at Lucky Plaza as a hairstylist, which she keeps a secret from her employers. Meanwhile, Jiale and Terry begin to kindle a relationship, which sparks his mother's jealousy and feelings of emotional neglect by her son. Hwee Leng attends a motivational seminar and is convinced by the optimistic words of the speaker to purchase his merchandise; he turns out to be a fraud.
Jiale is enthusiastic in his collection of past-winning lottery numbers, which he catalogues in his schoolbook. One day, after being taunted by another boy that Terry only loves him as part of her job, he pushes the boy against a bathroom wall, hospitalizing him. Threatened with expulsion and the school's administration unable to contact his parents, Terry arrives to plead for mercy on his behalf. Hwee Leng shows up, reminding Terry that she is Jiale's mother. Later, Jiale is caned in front of the school assembly.
After the family car is sold for scrap and Teck is fired from his job for breaking several crates while chasing a robber, the Lim family acknowledge they can no longer afford to keep Terry employed. Desperate to keep her, Jiale uses his savings to purchase lottery tickets but loses. He becomes despondent and cuts a lock of Terry's hair during a tense farewell at the airport. Holding onto her cassette player, Jiale listens to Terry's favorite song, "Kahapon at Pag-ibig"}} by Asin, with his father in the hospital as Hwee Leng gives birth to a baby girl.