It is the seventh night of Chinese New Year and a big night for Money Money Karaoke. Mandy has poured her heart (and savings) into the business and its elaborate themed rooms, inspired by the karaoke bars her mother and grandmother once ran in Singapore. It is also her birthday, but Mandy doesn’t want to think about that – or her age, 38 – which is inauspicious for both cultural and personal reasons.

As Mandy anxiously awaits customers, her partner Xavier tries to reassure her. Suddenly, two women appear. Mandy’s mother and grandmother have been dead for decades – both dying by suicide at the age of 38 – and now their hungry ghosts have come to visit. Gma is fiery and cunning, claiming she has a plan to make Mandy rich, while Mum is as glamorous and distant in death as she was in life.

As the evening descends into otherworldly chaos, patterns and parallels emerge between the three women. Mandy learns more about her foremothers, their traditions and superstitions, and eventually asserts her own power over the cycles that have shaped her life. Karaoke becomes the means through which the characters express themselves...