Dìdi - Promise me you won't do anything stupid

Chris Wang, a Taiwanese immigrant residing in Fremont, California, lives with his mother, grandmother, and elder sister while his father works in Taiwan. Although not particularly popular at school, Chris spends his time skateboarding with his friends Fahad and Soup, and creating content for his YouTube channel. After developing a crush on Madi, Chris attempts to connect with her at a party by pretending they have shared interests. He continues to pursue her through online conversations with his friends’ assistance and eventually asks her out. However, the date ends poorly, with Madi's comment about Chris being "cute for an Asian" leaving him humiliated. Chris stops seeing Madi after her comment.

Chris feels excluded when he spends time with Fahad and his girlfriend, and he tells a story that the girlfriend finds offensive. This leads to Fahad distancing himself from Chris, who then seeks acceptance from a group of older skateboarders. He lies to them about his Asian background. When his friends discover his dishonesty and disrespectful behavior towards his mother, they abandon him.

As a typical Asian mother, Chris’s mom is concerned about her son’s future success. She wants him to excel academically, so she enrolls him in a cram school. After the ‘breakup’, Madi’s friend teases Chris, which he can’t tolerate. Consequently, he engages in a fight with them. To resolve the situation, his mother apologizes to the affected families on his behalf.

The dynamics within Chris's family are not always harmonious. Chris argues with his sister a lot because he always steals things from his sister and plays pranks on her. Chris's grandmother believes that her grandchildrens’ misbehavior is a result of their mother's poor parenting. so she places the blame on their mother. Chris's mom, Chungsing, always wanted to be a painter, but being a mom meant she focused on raising her kids instead. Sometimes she thinks about what could have been if she pursued art, but she loves her kids more than anything and sees them as the best thing in her life.

Chris and his sister are both starting at new schools; she's off to university and he's entering high school. Chris's old friends aren't as close as they used to be, and he wants to make up with Madi, but she's still upset with him for how he treated her friends.

Chris has gone through a lot in his childhood. Growing up as an Asian American kid can be tough. He struggles a lot to fit in with his peers at school. He engaged in some mischievous behavior in an attempt to be cool, but his friends have outgrown him eventually. Chris tries to make friends with older people as he thinks they’re cool. To seek acceptable, Chris made up stories about him being half Asian, ultimately jeopardizing those friendships due to his perceived lack of sincerity.

As you age, you’re compelled to mature. You can’t continue acting like you used to. Everyone desires to appear cool, but don’t compromise your identity by pretending to be someone you’re not.