Malaysia in the 1960s. A newly independent nation, full of early promise.
On the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, young Ah Tat dreams of a life beyond the kampong. Earnest, bookish and a little naive, he sees his path clearly: he will study hard at the Methodist school, enter university and one day become a man of consequence. It is his duty to guide his wayward cousin, the darkly charismatic KC, on a similar path to success. But when KC’s fascination with the local triads results in his sudden disappearance, Ah Tat is left with nothing but questions and regrets.
Years later, the estranged cousins are reunited in a much-changed country. Ah Tat, now a successful engineer and future captain of industry, discovers KC has become a powerful underworld figure. Vowing to haul his cousin back from the moral abyss, he is instead drawn into an escalating rivalry with KC as the two men vie for wealth, status, influence and the love of the enigmatic June Teh.
But could a bizarre weather event stay the inevitable reckoning?
The Snow in Kuala Lumpur is a tale of two men-fierce adversaries who ought to have been brothers-and two peoples, the Malays and Chinese, who forged a new nation while walking the thin line between kinship and a destructive rivalry.