In 1937, after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, the Second Sino-Japanese War breaks out. San Mao, a wandering orphan, joins the army to participate in the Battle of Shanghai.
Swordsman Xu Tianxiong gets a message from dying gold miner Tao Jin Wang, then leads the confrontation against the treacherous gold store owner Ba Zhangui.
In pre-revolutionary China, two young girls, Chunhua and Yuehong Xing, rise through the ranks of Chinese opera, but with their artistic success comes a new series of personal and social challenges. After they're sold to a Shanghai opera and the revolution dawns, Yuehong radicalizes and devotes her career to politically progressive performances, while Chunhua flees to avoid turmoil. As the world changes around them, they fight to maintain their friendship.
