Chun-bo and Bong-dal are members of a bandit who voluntarily claim to be Im Kek-jeong's subordinates. They didn't even know that there was a horse plaque on the clothes of the fishermen, and they were yangban and decided to play the role of a real female haenger. They perform good deeds such as scolding Tamgwan-duck for the unfair and powerless people and distributing grain to poor residents.
On the first full moon of January, in the town of Ha-pyung, there is a festival going on in the yard of Shin Chi-gyu, the town's biggest landowner. They are playing yut, a game of throwing four short sticks. The winner of the game is Ok-bun's husband, Lee Bang-won. Having no money, Ok-bun and Bang-won had been tenant farmers on Chi-gyu's land. With their winnings, they try to start their own business. Chi-gyu had always been drawn to Ok-bun. When Bang-won leaves, Chi-gyu comes on strong to Ok-bun. Ok-bun waits eagerly for her husband's return but Bang-won has failed in his business and returns a pauper. As their dreams go up in smoke, Ok-bun falls into deep despair.
A deaf woman boarding with an elderly laborer suffers many hardships upon the latter's death. The old man's son offers to care for her, but she feels she must leave in order to protect the young man's reputation.
Gyu-hwa and Jin-wu are old friends with very different personalities. Their friend Mi-yeon used to be close to Jin-wu but when she grows up, she becomes a prisoner of Gyu-hwa's aggressive behavior. Gyu-hwa takes Ga-hi away from Jin-wu when he discovers that she comes from a wealthy family. But Gyu-hwa begins to have an affair with an older widow and begins to abuse Mi-yeon, the mother of his daughter.
Suk-hee's mother is remarried to a man who has a son a year senior than Suk-hee. The two don't get along well first, but soon they grow intimate. Suk-hee learns, though, that she needs to give up her love for her mother's happiness. One day she leaves her mother and her new family, and goes on her way to her hometown, where she sees a Zelkova tree.
