Xiao Cao is a young orphan living with her cruel aunt and uncle. She has a sisterly bond with her neighbour, Qing Qing, who is being forced into a marriage with a much older man by her older brother. Desperate to escape their unfortunate circumstances, the two girls manage to run away together on the day of Qing Qing's wedding. During their escape they coincidentally meet He Shiwei, a young university student who is also running away from his family due to an arranged marriage. After a few initial misunderstandings the three decide to travel together. However, things become complicated when they encounter the Fu family, and the family matriarch mistakes He Shiwei for her son, Fu Yuankai, who died 10 years ago.

In 1937, the Japanese imperialists launched a brutal war of aggression against China. Xu Tian was a color-blind accountant in Shanghai with military training who decided to stay close to his mother after the death of his father. After an accident involving a group of patriots led by a friend of his late father, he was touched by the patriotic spirit. He used his sharp mind to help the patriots transporting important materials, which also drew the attention of Japanese occupying the city to himself. During this period, he befriended Jin, a conman-turned-businessman and Tielin, a police officer working in the Shanghai French Concession. At the same time, pharmacist Tian Dan rented a room in Xu's house after losing her parents in an incident Xu was deeply involved. On the backdrop of the national crisis, people were living their intertwined lives with their own agenda, be it for revenge, for duty, for self-interest, or for ideology.

Zhen Huan, a 17-year-old innocent introduced into the imperial court as the latest concubine of Emperor Yong Zheng. Her dreams of a new life of love and prosperity are swiftly dashed as she enters a dog-eat-dog world of treachery and corruption.