Im Seong-po

During the reign of King Yeongjo in the Joseon Dynasty (1302-1910), the villainous retainer party led by Jang Ji-hang gains power after cutting the head off a royalist Hong seong-won. His son Hong Guk-yeong passes a state exam and tries to assist the king in ruling well, but he is also put to death by Jang's false incrimination. But he is called a faithful politician in history.

Due to her father's debts, Yun Go-na marries Song Kye-nam but she is unhappy because of Kye-nam's self-indulgent lifestyle. Go-na takes her daughter, Min-hi, and goes to Seoul where she gets a job as a hostess. One day, Mun Byung-kil proposes to Go-na. Troubled by her situation, Go-na turns him down. But Go-na is touched by his sincerity and marries him. The three live happily as a family but then Kye-nam shows up and demands his daughter Min-hi. However, Ky0e-nam goes away when he realizes which is real happiness of his daughter.

The story takes place on a mountain slope where defectors from North Korea live. These families sell cheap things such as socks and pens to make a living and there is a serious gap between the parents and their children. A widower Kim Deok-sam nags his son Geo-buk to join the American army. Ok-Mae who lives next door teaches her daughter Bok-soon traditional Korean folksongs and forces her to become a gisaeng.

A deaf woman boarding with an elderly laborer suffers many hardships upon the latter's death. The old man's son offers to care for her, but she feels she must leave in order to protect the young man's reputation.

An overworked female executive is haunted by strange dreams. She is compelled to travel to a remote fishing village where she is inexplicably kidnapped and sold to a peasant farmer on a remote island.

Passing through a jail and a construction site, a young laborer meets a middle-aged man returning to Sampo after ten years' absence. Together, they track down a young woman who ran away from the restaurant she was waitressing at, but instead of turning her in for a reward, the trio decide to go on an adventure together.

Ha Dong, Kyung Nam Province in 1890. Choi Chi-Su's family is a grand land lord of the region from generation to generation. His mother Mrs. Yoon gives birth to another son Hwan after she was raped by Kim Gae-Ju when he is 10 years old. Later Hwan becomes a servant of Choi family but he falls in love with Chi-Su's wife and they flee by night. Meanwhile after a reign of 40 years of King Ko Jong, cholera prevails all over the country and years of famine follows it. While people suffer from natural disasters and diseases, one of Chi-Su's maternal relative Cho Jun-Ku and his wife make a plot to take Choi family's enormous wealth and strengthen the foundation for his status. In this chaos some villagers and Seo-Hee, Chi-Su's daughter leave their village for Buk Kan Do.