When their mother dies, Junan and her little sister Yinan make a pact to stay together forever. They grow up in Hangzhou, in their wealthy father’s house, Junan becoming ever more beautiful, Yinan shyer and more withdrawn. When the girl’s father gambles more than he can afford in a game of paigao, he pays his debt with the hand of his older daughter. So the beautiful Junan becomes the bride of the ambitious and handsome Li Ang. Junan, exquisite and cold, makes the mistake that she had always feared making, the mistake that disgraced her mother and led to her early death. Quite simply, she falls in love with her husband. Eventually, Li Ang is sent to Chongqing, to protect the wartime capital from Japanese invaders. Unable to join him herself and tormented by love and jealousy, Junan makes her second mistake. She sends to him the one woman she can trust, her quiet and dreamy younger sister Yinan.