When his 'liberal' wife dies, middle aged Jang Tae-yeon stays single for the sake of his only child. When he meets Hwang Yu-young, who is in her twenties, by chance, Tae-yeon gets remarried. Yu-young becomes a young housewife enjoying a well-to-do life. However, as the days go by, she grows more disgruntled by the generation gap between her and her husband. Tae-yeon gets more caught up with his friends. When he finds out of his wife's gradual transformation into becoming a 'liberal' wife, he dies from the shock. Yu-young regrets her husband's death and she realizes too late what it means to be a housewife.

Mass starvation and social disorder is the norm in the wake of the Korean War. Hwa-su works as a gofer at a local theater but dreams of owning one day a theater of his own. As an adult, Hwa-su becomes a protege of powerful businessman Sohn Jong-rok and marries his niece thus becoming an heir to Sohn's business. He takes over the Je-il Theater and re-names it Peace Theater. Achieving his childhood dream is the just the beginning for Hwa-su. He ventures into the world of filmmaking. Meanwhile, crime lord Lee Jeong-jae takes Yu Ji-gwang under his wings and partners with Gwak Young-ju to build his own political clout. But when his ardent supporter Lee Gi-boong loses the vice presidential race, Jeong-jae becomes nervous. Hwa-su, now a man with immense wealth and underworld power approaches Jeong-jae and Ji-gwang to form an uneasy alliance and enter the world of rigged elections and corrupt politics.