The film is set in 1959, when Ip Man is seen settling into his low-profile life in Hong Kong after decades of his struggle against feuding rivals and then Japanese oppressors during World War II. The film itself has three seperate storylines; the first being Ip Man vs the Gangs of Hong Kong, who tried to forcibly take the school which Ip Man's son, Ip Ching, goes to. Through all this fighting, Ip Man is spending less and less time with his wife, which begins the second storyline of his wife's issue. Last but not least is Fong Tin-Chi's rise to fame as he claims that Ip Man's wing-chun is not traditional and openly challenges him to a fight to prove who's wing chun is the best.