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In the sweltering summer of 1993, Ma Hak-bak, an ambitious entertainment reporter for the cutthroat Hot Weekly, and his intern Ben Ko encounter a mysterious fortune-teller in an elevator. Master Yip, possessing the "Heavenly Eye," delivers three cryptic prophecies to each: Ma is promised swift promotion but warned of old-age bankruptcy and a wife who will weep for him; Ko is told he will rise to power only to be betrayed and imprisoned.

Skeptical, Ma watches as the first prophecy unfolds. After he ruthlessly exposes a government official’s scandal in Tokyo, his career skyrockets. Meanwhile, Ko leaves the world of print media for the nascent internet boom, building a tech empire that mirrors the prophecies of power.

A few years later, Ko, now a wealthy tech executive, is involved with a high-end escort named Suki. During a tryst at a love hotel, Suki unexpectedly chokes to death. Despite the shock, Ko finds out that Suki is just a 15-year-old minor. Panicked and fearing his "imprisonment" prophecy, Ko blackmails Ma into helping him dispose of the body. Ma, believing that helping Ko evade prison will break the chain of prophecies, cleans the scene and dumps the body in a remote park.

Decades pass. As the love hotel is ending its business, Ma and Ko realize that rock-solid evidence is presented and they are forced to confront the question: did the prophecies dictate their lives, or did their belief in them create their own ruin?

THE DESINTY OF MACBETH is a gripping, prismatic meditation on the fall of an era and the inescapable trap of self-fulfilling fate.