Set in a village right after the Korean War, poor but good-hearted Heo Sam-gwan sets out to win the most beautiful girl in the village, Heo Ok-ran, by selling his blood to earn money. Years later, the two are happily married with three children, but their family undergoes a crisis when Sam-gwan's eldest son doesn't resemble him and rumors spread about the boy's paternity.
In the late 1990s, in a small town in the southwest, the Federation of Literary and Art Circles held a writers' pen meeting, and the participants were more than a dozen famous domestic writers. A young woman (Wang Tong) is in charge of the reception at the pen meeting. While serving the pen meeting, she unexpectedly met her long-lost college boyfriend, a man who came to this small town to do business (Wang Zhiwen). decoration). A short time in a small town, a chance encounter... Literary discussions on one side, love stories on the other.
Yu Xiaoqin steals money from her father and blames on her sister Tao Lan, who accidentally kills her sister while attempting to prove her innocence. After 17 years in jail, Tao Lan is escorted by a guard only to find her home long demolished. The two go to the new address of her ageing parents, and the guard becomes witness to the family's difficult reunion.
Fugui and Jiazhen endure tumultuous events in China as their personal fortunes move from wealthy landownership to peasantry. Addicted to gambling, Fugui loses everything. In the years that follow he is pressed into both the nationalist and communist armies, while Jiazhen is forced into menial work.
