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Growing up in New Zealand, Roseanne was the perfect Chinese daughter. She excelled in piano, ballet and drama, as well as becoming dux of her school. She did everything her parents expected of her, until:

1) she fell in love with a white boy called Stephen, and
2) decided to make a film about it.

The result is Roseanne's fresh, poignant and slightly neurotic account of her personal Herculean task - getting her traditional Chinese parents to accept her white boyfriend. Spanning six years of subterfuge, two years of despair, and six months of Stephen trying to master Chinese, Banana in a Nutshell is the intimate story of a girl's two loves - her Kiwi boy, and her Chinese parents - and the struggle to keep both intact.

Banana in a Nutshell starts by tracing Roseanne Liang's upbringing as an over-achieving 1st generation Chinese New Zealander. Through an intimate voice-over and archival materials, it covers her stellar academic successes tempered by her dismal social inadequacy. This problem is surprisingly solved by the emergence of a wonderful boyfriend called Stephen and even more surprisingly, the falling into of love with him.

The second section of Banana in a Nutshell covers Roseanne's parents' traditional Chinese roots in Hong Kong, and their subsequent desire to raise 'good Chinese children' a world away in New Zealand. Through a confessional monologue and series of interviews with Roseanne's sisters, the growing divide between the children and the parents is illustrated most starkly with their hostile reaction to her eldest sister's first non-Chinese boyfriend. From this experience, Roseanne and Stephen decide to keep the first 6 years of their relationship a secret. An unexpected tragedy precipitates a showdown with Roseanne's parents which results in a major concession: a white boy may ask for acknowledgement and a daughter's hand in marriage, but only if he shows his devotion to the Chinese culture by learning its language.

The third and final section of Banana in a Nutshell covers Stephen's quest to learn Chinese to a level well enough to impress Roseanne's father into giving his blessing for marriage. Through observational footage peppered with interviews of Roseanne and her sisters, the question of fairness is asked (considering Roseanne's middle sister's Chinese New Zealander husband doesn't speak any Chinese), how her father will actually examine Stephen on his language skills and whether he will find him wanting, and finally what they will do if her father refuses. We follow the couple to just before the big meeting with Roseanne's father, then wait nervously with her in the car. Finally, we catch the immediate verdict, the elation that follows, and finish on a promising domestic scene where Roseanne muses in voice-over on what is to come…