Three stories of women and men: in 1966, \"A Time for Love,\" a soldier searches for a young woman he met one afternoon playing pool; \"A Time for Freedom,\" set in a bordello in 1911, revolves around a singer\'s longing to escape her surroundings; in 2005 in Taipei, \"A Time for Youth\" dramatizes a triangle in which a singer has an affair with a photographer while her partner suffers. In the first two stories, letters are crucial to the outcome; in the third, it\'s cell-phone calls, text messages, and a computer file. Over the years between the tales, as sexual intimacy becomes more likely and words more free, communication recedes.