Lee Young-ok

Lee Mun-hi works as a bus conductor. She is tormented by the fact that she is subject to body searches, but tries to treat her co-workers nicely and live an honest life. She is kind to people who are less fortunate than her and falls in love with Kwang-seok, a traveling salesman. She helps Kwang-seok become a crewman of the ship and promises to marry him. When she is subjected to another body search, she protests against the humiliation and jumps from the roof of her company building. She is critically injured and is embraced by Kwang-seok.

Byung-tae and Young-ja are married. His mother wants them to move out and they are faced with the harsh realities of making a living. Byung-tae perseveres and finally gets a job at a conglomerate. But Young-ja, ashamed of her husband's position, lies at her school reunion that Byung-tae has just been promoted to an executive director. On her birthday, he returns home late and they fight. Later, she finds out that he must entertain clients by drinking endlessly and she feels sorry for him. Byung-tae despairs of his life of drinking late hours almost every night. But seeing people jogging in the early morning hours inspires him to push on.

College student Yeon-hi meets Young-min, the executive director of a company, to receive funds for a drama play, in place of her friend Sung-gyun.. They fall in love but Yeon-hi suffers from her financial difficulty losing her job as a tutor. She moves on to Jun-Il but they are parted again for poverty. She luckily works as a tutor again and Jung-bin, her student's brother, comes home from abroad and propose to her. He goes to America and sends her an invitation but she gives up and burn the invitation out of guilt about her past.

Byung-tae joins the army after being dumped by Young-ja. With two months until discharge, Young-ja comes to visit him. She sends him a letter saying she'll never forget him and that she was marrying Ju-hyuk, a doctor.

How big is the gap between friendship and love between women? Can one separate the moral principles of caring for another from the desire to possess that person? Can coerced heterosexuality compete with closet homosexuality? Ascetic, which has gained cult notoriety for its controversial focus on lesbian love, poses these questions and issues. Middle-aged painter, Noh Mi-eh who had endured years of sadistic cruelty from her husband, finds solace in the young fashion model, Kim Young-hee, who is burdened with her own painful past of being gang raped by three men. Mi-eh’s job offer to Young-hee to pose for her painting has the younger woman living under Mi-eh’s roof. Like a mother or even a lover, Mi-eh takes care of Young-hee, doing all she can to help her younger roommate to be freed of her past demons. But when Young-hee falls in love with a man, the two women’s relationship and fate takes a drastic turn.

One rainy day, a young auto-repair shop worker, Cheol, falls in love with the housemaid of a rich family, Young-Hee. Cheol lies to her that he is a college student, and she also conceals what she does. They meet on rainy days only because she has a chance to have a a French-made raincoat. They rendezvous continue, but both of them can hardly find a chance to confess the truth about each other. So they are to split up, but still, they confess the truth to each other.

A butterfly flies from the mountain to the city. Sang-Kyu, who works in a company, buys a house in the suburbs and lives with his wife and daughter, Yun-Jeong. But Yun-Jeong becomes a somnambulist because of the illusion of a butterfly flying to the house. Sang-Kyu happens to know Mi-Wu, a singer, who loves Song Cheol-Ho but wanders in her life after his death. On the other hand, Yun-Jeong regains her consciousness with the help of an English psychicist and a nun. After Sang-Kyu has a sex with Mi-Wu, he falls out of the window and loses his consciousness. As she feels affection for Sang-Kyu, Mi-Wu becomes a butterfly in the soul world and leaves him.

The story is set in the 1970s during the period of military dictatorship. Schools were frequently closed and society seemed to face bleak prospects on all fronts. Nonetheless, Byung Tae, a college student, enjoys pursuing romance in blind group dates. It's during one of these ventures that he meets Young-ja, a French literature student.

An old man Park's daughter Eun-Sil happened to know that her biological father is not him and her mother died accidentally at the foot of Seo Rak Mountain. Eun-Sil tries to find out her mother's cause of death and makes sure that his father Song Deok-Sil killed Eun-Sil's mother, his fiacee then, to marry to a daughter of a ChaeBol. To revenge for her mother Eun-Sil gets a job as a governess in Song Deok-Sil's house. But she finds that not only she but also old man Park and Mrs. Choo, a maidservant, threaten Song and his wife. However his wife stately stands against their threats and asks Eun-Sil to forgive.

A man avoids his mandatory military service, but this forces him to hide the fact from society and to lie on official documents. Although he makes a decent living, guilt begins to eat at him.

Not long after he married, Yoo Shin has to enter the army leaving behind his wife Jil Rye and daughter Yong Bun. He is taken a prisoner of war in a battlefield. Without knowing this, Jil Rye and Yong-bun firmly hope Yoo Shin's safe return from the war while they overcome temptation, poverty, epidemics and even drought. But an influential man of their village rapes Jil Ryel and Yong Bun. Yoo decides to take revenge.

Jang-Soe is the stepbrother of Jang-Hwa and Hong-Ryeon. Jang-Soe's mother kills two sisters to take all properties from their father. Later Jang-Hwa and Hong-Ryeon become resented spirits. They appear to their father Mr. Bae and the chief of district to tell that their stepmother Mrs. Heo killed them. The honorable chief of district knows the truth and arrests Mrs. Heo and Jang-Soe to punish them. Jang-Hwa revives from death and marries to her beloved Mr. Jeong.