For local pharmacist In-ku, marriage has always been the lowest priority because of his need to take care of his mentally-ill brother. In his life comes along Hye-ran, an imitation clothing designer, who leads a hard life as she tries to repay the debts left by her father. A chance encounter allows them to recognize what they have been missing, and to find solace in each other. However, as their love grows, so do each of their burdens.
Yu Jin is a member of a gang in Itaewon district. He will do anything for money, even take a knife. The only person he cares about is his half brother Dol Ee. Shany and Geum Ja are dancers in clubs in Itaewon. They will sleep with anyone, even foreigners, for money. Shany and Geum Ja only have each other to lean on. Nam Ok and Jang Sook have their own fantasies about America and are obsessed by the American dream. Jang Po is an Itaewon mob boss who cruelly extorts money from the young people of Itaewon. These people fight each other with tragic consequences. Under the Itaewon sky, their suffering and tragic love continue.
Nan-hee and Min-hee are best friends who also went to the same college. Nan-hee came from a poor family while Min-hee comes from a wealthy background. But their friendship overcomes these obvious difference. Nan-hee begins to work in the fashion industry shortly after graduation and soon goes to Paris to study while Min-hee marries Jae-min who was once supposed to have a blind date with Nan-hee. Nan-hee spends poor but passionate days in Paris. Jae-min stops by Paris on a business trip and the two begin to fall for each other. When Nan-hee returns to Seoul, Jae-min supports her business wholeheartedly. Min-hee is shocked beyond words when she finds out about the relations between the two. When Jae-min is in a car accident, they begin to consider divorce. Realizing that her best friend's life is in ruins because of her, Nan-hee gives up her business and marries an artist. Min-hee picks up Nan-hee's business from where she left off.
In a high school second grade classroom, Bonggu (Gyu Seok) and Genija (Choi Soo-hoon), whose grades are low, love each other (Yi Yeon Yeon) and Niho teacher. The hard - luck Changshu helps his mother to clean the liquor, but the Eun - joo, who grew up in a rich environment, screams without understanding him. Eunju is always attracted to the innocence of the pure mind while maintaining good grades and suffering obsession with the grades due to the obsession of the parents. She takes her parents' cold eyes when she is pushed to the seventh place by the next exam. Eunju can not endure it and suicide. In the classroom, a flower is placed on the desk of Eun-joo, and the hearse and the children are tears as the hearse runs the school.
While waiting to hear on a teaching position, Jong-hwan falls in love with Su-kyeong who, in turn, loves his poetry. They marry but, because Jong-hwan is caught up in his work and taking care of his mother and siblings, he fails to notice his wife's hardships or the fact that her health is getting progressively worse
Su-jin faints one day for no apparent reason and slips into a coma. After three months of waiting for her to recover, her boyfriend, Kyeong-ho, accepts a position as a ship's officer and goes on an extended tour. Meanwhile, Jang-won, a medical student working under the doctor caring for Su-jin, finds himself falling in love with the ailing woman.
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.
