When a City Rises follows a young couple, a law student and a young father, as they navigate the protest movement in Hong Kong. Using direct action, guerrilla tactics, technology, social media, memes and graffiti, they try to challenge the superpower that threatens to overshadow their lives. Each plays a different role in this complex social movement. The documentary captures a year of increasingly higher stakes and personal struggles in the lives of the protagonists, who confront their fears and find out how much they are willing to sacrifice for change.