China 1839. Because the British imports of opium into Southern China are creating such widespread medical and economic problems, the weak Manchu emperor Tao Kuang is forced to take action that precipitates the 'Opium War'.
After graduating from a Shanghai nursing school, Jian Shuhua decides to work at a construction workers’ clinic in a remote area, despite the objections of her fiancé Shen Aoru. When she arrives at her new workstation, she finds that one of the clinic directors, Mo Jiabing, pays more attention to his love affair with nurse Gu Huiying than to his work. In addition, Gu’s jealousy is aroused by the arrival of the new nurse. Jian, then, the epitome of the selfless worker, has to deal with a faraway and egotistic fiancé, a selfish and lecherous boss, an unfriendly colleague, as well as the hardships of a remote and barren workstation. How can she succeed?
Num edifício de apartamentos em Xangai, Hou, um oficial corrupto do Kuomintang, o partido no poder na China em meio ao caos do fim da Segunda Guerra Mundial, ocupa o prédio, avisa que irá vendê-lo e manda todos os inquilinos saírem.
This tale of familial warfare and sacrifice takes place in hard-pressed Shanghai at the end of the 1940s. Hu Zhiqing can barely support his wife and children, and his situation is worsened by the unexpected arrival of his mother, brother and sister-in-law. When he is fired by his unscrupulous boss, the whole family becomes embroiled in one emotional/economic struggle after another.
