母亲死后,凯特(海伦娜·伯翰·卡特 Helena Bonham Carter 饰)被姨妈玛德(夏洛特·兰普林 Charlotte Rampling 饰)收留了。玛德希望凯特能够嫁给一个富翁,从此过上衣食无忧的生活,可桀骜不驯的凯特偏偏爱上了名不见经传的小记者莫顿(莱纳斯·罗彻 Linus Roache 饰)。 一个名叫米莉(艾丽森·艾略特 Alison Elliott 饰)的富家女出现在了凯特的身边,她身患重病,命不久矣。单纯的米莉爱上了莫顿,凯特将这一切都看在眼里,一条既能得到米莉家产又能收获莫顿爱情的妙计应运而生,她很快就和米莉成为了无话不谈的好友。然而,人心并不如凯特想象中的那般容易操纵,眼看着莫顿和米莉之间的感情越来越深就要失去控制,凯特陷入了深深的不安之中。
Min Ji-suk runs a ticket barwhere customers can purchase tickets for certain servicesin the town of Sokcho in Gangwon-do. She hires Miss Yang (Ahn So-young), Miss Hong (Lee Hye-young), and Se-young (Jeon Se-young) through the employment agency. Miss Yang and Miss Hong, who are well experienced in this type of business, are used to accepting propositions from customers. But Se-young, who is dating a college student named Min-su, rejects all requests for sexual favors. When Min-su professes to having problems with his tuition and finances, Se-young reassures him that she will procure the necessary funds for him. When the bar's clientele begins to dwindle because of Se-young, Ji-suk reprimands her severely. Se-young develops a close relationship with a Captain Pak and even allows him to sleep with her. She asks Captain Pak to find Min-su employment on a boat, but when Min-su comes to Sokcho for his new job, he sees how Se-young has been making her living. Shocked, he turns his back on the job and leaves. When he eventually returns to Sokcho, he scathingly denounces Se-young's morality and severs their relationship. Decades ago, Ji-suk had stumbled into the bar business in a desperate effort to support her husband, who was serving time in prison; she later left him voluntarily out of shame and moral degradation. Concerned that Se-young will end up with the same fate, Ji-suk asks Min-su to meet with her. She begs him not to abandon Se-young, but he flatly refuses. Ji-suk reacts by pushing Min-su into the sea, and suffers a mental breakdown that lands her in a psychiatric institution.
The story revolves around renowned orchestra conductor Thibaut. When he’s diagnosed with Leukaemia, he sets out in search of a compatible donor for a bone marrow transplant. He subsequently discovers that he’s adopted and that he has an older brother in the North. The latter is an office worker, but he also plays trombone in a local brass band which is soon to be dismantled. Ag...