12-year-old Dre Parker and his mother Sherry move from Detroit to Beijing after she gets a job transfer at her car factory. After settling in their new apartment, Dre goes to a nearby park where he eyes a young violinist, Meiying, who reciprocates his attention, but another boy Cheng, a rebellious kung fu prodigy whose family is close to Meiying's, attempts to keep them apart by physically attacking Dre, and later he and his friends bully Dre at school. After a school field trip to the Forbidden City, Dre throws a bucket of dirty water over Cheng and his gang who then chase and brutally attack Dre before he's saved by the maintenance man, Mr. Han. When Cheng and his friends try to interfere, Han defeats each of them in close combat, showing himself to be a kung fu master.